Carousel Origin

In the late 16th century, European knights began practicing a form of the tournament on horseback that became known as carrousel – French for “little war.”Unlike earlier jousts, these contests were less bloody and involved greater pageantry by noblemen of high rank, mounted on horses decked with elaborate trappings. The beautifully carved decorations on merry-go-round horses descend from the highly decorated horses of nobles and royals at such events.

By the mid-17th century, young French noblemen began practicing for carrousels using a machine that consisted of crudely carved horses, suspended by chains from wooden spokes that radiated from a center pole. These machines were operated by hand or mule power. Early traveling carousels, similar to the one Michael Dentzel took throughout the German countryside in the early 19th century, evolved from such military training equipment into amusement devices.

The practice of catching the brass ring on the merry-go-round developed from another important feature of the carousel – the ring-spearing event. First observed by European Crusaders among Arabian and Turkish horsemen, the practice involved riding full tilt toward a ring suspended from a pole or tree, then running the tip of a lance through the center of the ring. Ring spearing was also popular in the antebellum South. The sport was revived in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, a city that soon after emerged as a center for the manufacture of carousels as we know them today. Click this link to know varied types of carousel rides: http://bestonparkrides.com/carousel-for-sale/

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