Stilt walk
The stilts (also: the stilt walking) is a common all over the globe playful activity in which one on stilts for pleasure, so paired, functional extensions of the two lower leg wandering around . Due to their tall appearance, professional stilt walkers usually attract attention as jugglers at festivals. Springy stilts also allow athletic jumping. In order to constantly reach a little higher when working with the arms, craftsmen sometimes use stilts with contact surfaces as long as the soles of shoes, which impart the turning and tilting moment of the human foot.
history
A use of stilts for popular amusement in the Middle Ages is assumed to be very likely.
Practical use
Europe
But before an exclusively enjoyable use was the practical use of stilts attached to the legs to overcome flooded or swampy terrain.
The French department of Landes became known for its stilt walkers , where in the 19th century the shepherds living there in the swampy landscape once used strapped stilts to guard their sheep from approaching wolves and also to cross damp areas. A third stilt that was carried along served as a seat to rest. In the Netherlands , too , stilts were part of the equipment of farmers to cross the numerous trenches and canals.
In England, hopsgrass was attached by workers on stilts to wire racks 12 feet (about 4 meters) high. This technology was only supplanted in the middle of the 20th century.
Other countries
In California and Morocco, stilts were used to harvest fruit. Stilt walkers were also used when cleaning windows in the USA or working on roofs and chimneys, and stilts were also used to paint high ceilings.
Ritual use in Africa
Mainly in the countries of West Africa , walking on stilts was one of the ritual customs of the shamans. For this reason, children were forbidden to use stilts among the Dogon in Mali . In Togo, on the other hand, walking on stilts was always used at festivals.
Walking on stilts as a game
Children in particular use the stilts to play. Even in the changed perspective due to the height there is a sense of walking on stilts. There are also competitive situations such as B. races on stilts, climbing stairs on stilts, an agreed course with obstacles and sweets hung on a line, which can only be reached with the mouth on stilts without the help of the hands. Pieter Bruegel the Elder documented stilts as toys in his children's play picture from 1560 .
In pageants and circus parades, stilt walkers on long pieces of wood are a tradition. Carnival parades in southern countries also know the stilt walk, with the stilts being covered by long robes here and there.
Stilt species
Basically, a distinction can be made between stilts for holding on and stilts for buckling up. In both cases, a certain minimum surface area is required for the foot on the stilt spar so that it can sustain the body weight without pain. Firmly tightened shoes can support the foot and help create a friction fit that prevents slipping. Often the standing height (step above the floor) is adjustable. The stilt spar is covered at the bottom with a buffer cap made of non-slip rubber with a hemispherical contour and possibly concentric grooves.
Stilts to hold on to
Typical toy stilts are gripped with arms and hands on the straight bars above and pressed tightly against the sides of the upper body behind or in front of the shoulders. The feet only stand on steps in order to ensure that they can jump off quickly if there is a risk of tripping. Running requires good coordination of leg and arm movements. The stilts are usually made of wood or light metal tubing. Typical diameters are around 30 to 40 mm in order to ensure the stiffness of the bar and its torsion-proof hold.
The treads are in the simplest case as firmly attached, spar-thick boards with a triangular contour, horizontal at the top for the tread, at an angle at the bottom to avoid getting caught with the foot when climbing. A stilt can have two steps on the stile diametrically opposite each other at different heights and still - if it has fallen - remains flat on the ground. 3 or 4 steps, mounted all around like a spiral staircase, allow you to climb up gradually by turning the bar by 90 °, even if help from a second person may be required. You can jump from this type of stilt, for example to forestall a fall.
Pot stilts
Pot stilts are toys that are mostly used by children . Pot stilts are stilts in which two pots or cans each have a rope to hold on to. The other stilts also move forward to hold on to.
Pot stilts are often part of the classic break toys in kindergartens and primary schools , which can often be found in break boxes. It can also be used as one of several stations in children's gymnastics . They can be used both indoors and outdoors.
Stilts to strap on
Stilts, as used by craftsmen and artists, are strapped to the shod feet and lower legs. The bars can end below knee height, the arms remain free. Jumping off is not possible with this type. Therefore, walking on these stilts takes some practice.
Subspecies of stilts for buckling:
- Point stilts essentially consist of a pole with a footboard and straps to strap on the (shoeed) foot and (padded high on the calf) on the lower leg.
- These stilts only have a small - quasi punctiform - contact area on the ground. The stilt walker avoids falling over by changing to suitable support points . Even to stand in one place, he has to constantly "trip / prance" in order to maintain his balance .
- Relevant torque around the vertical axis of the body can only be transmitted with the cooperation of both stilts. If you want to take long steps with high stilts, you need to raise your walking leg particularly high or, alternatively, swing it out to the side in order not to touch the ground dangerously. Together with the slow movement of the legs, which are weighted and lengthened with the stilts, characteristic movement patterns result that differ significantly from natural walking.
Stilts can be worn visibly or hidden in long pants or a skirt. Dressing up in the costume of a long-legged animal is delightful. Jörn Heypke depicts a dinosaur walking only on its longer hind legs with a rider on it.
- Craftsman stilts are based on a 4-joint mechanism, mostly made of aluminum. This enables the ankle movement to be transmitted to a foot-sized floor plate. This allows you to stand still (with both legs). This makes walking on stilts easier even in cramped conditions and on poor ground. Originally developed as a "mobile ladder" for craftsmen such as painters, wallpaperers or fruit pickers.
- Jump stilts are a special type of point stilt . Their compression allows jumping with these stilts with a dynamic similar to jumping on a trampoline (see bouncing ). You can even jump somersaults with it.
Worth knowing
The southwest French baker Sylvain Dornon from Arcachon managed in 1891 to walk on stilts from Paris to Moscow (around 3000 km) in 58 days.
In Togo in Africa (a country with a great tradition on stilts) a stilt festival has been held every year since February 2005 in the city of Atakpamé . The longest stilts measure around five meters.
On the TV show Wetten, dass ..? Samuel Koch injured himself severely in 2010 when attempting to jump over a car driving towards him with stilts in a hall bet .
See also
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Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kentish Stilt-walkers Already Out (Newsreel - February 25, 1949) . BBC Archive clips. June 21, 2018.
- ^ Christian Vöhringer - Pieter Bruegel. 1525 / 30–1569, Tandem Verlag 2007, p. 52 (Stelzen in Die Kinderspiele ) ISBN 978-3-8331-3852-2
- ↑ Gerhard Waschler, Martin Leitner: Moving Whole Day: Data for the analysis of the school situation in Lower Bavaria & Upper Austria with recommendations for action . Meyer & Meyer, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8403-1109-3 ( google.de [accessed September 18, 2019]).
- ↑ Ursula Steinau: Children's gymnastics is (s) t healthy . Meyer & Meyer Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89899-486-6 ( google.de [accessed on September 18, 2019]).
- ↑ Dr Dietmar-Wilfried R. Buck, Dagmar Buck, Hella Rieck: Learning wants to be learned - Volume 1: General considerations on directed educational work with 3-6 year old preschool children . Pro Business, 2019, ISBN 978-3-96409-156-7 ( google.de [accessed September 18, 2019]).
- ^ Dancing on Stilts