Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 17 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 16 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. We’re going to do something different this week. We’ve been learning about some, frankly depressing things. War, genocide, slaughter, ethnic tensions and cleansings. These are all important things to be learning about. Especially the ones that are happening in the world right now. But it is always important to remember to take care of ourselves. We need to take some time to breathe and remember that we are human beings with thoughts and feelings and that we require rest or we will, quite simply, die.

So today, after our visit to the Alchemist’s Table, we are going to learn about the history of juggling!

Today’s libation is called Herb Garden. It’s 1 oz each of gin, elderflower liquor, and jagermeister. 2 splashes each of Orleans and Cardamom bitters, and a splash of lavender simple syrup. Shake well and strain into a glass with muddled mint. Top with lemonade and enjoy!

So! Now onto the juggling. First let’s get the obvious out of the way. What is juggling? Juggle is a verb and it is defined as to continuously toss into the air and catch (a number of objects) so as to keep at least one in the air while handling the others, typically for the entertainment of others.

Though it also bears mentioning that what we will be discussing in this episode is more specifically referred to as toss juggling. Bounce juggling and contact juggling also exist as distinct disciplines. Moving forward I’ll be using the general term juggling, but know that we are discussing toss juggling.

The classic tool for juggling is, obviously, balls but you can juggle anything that you can throw. I’ve seen people juggle knives, flaming torches, chainsaws, music stands, bowling balls. Anything you can throw. Although, the three most basic juggling props are balls, clubs, and rings.

The oldest archeological depiction that we have of juggling comes from ancient Egypt from around the 21st century BCE. There was some wall art in the Beni Hasan cemetery complex that appears to show 4 young women juggling balls. We say appears to be because without text based evidence describing the scene or the ability to talk to someone who made the art it’s just a guess. But you can look up the wall art, and it looks like juggling to me.

The next big piece of juggling in the historical record comes from the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history and it is not only my favorite story from the history of juggling, but it is also one of my favorite historical stories to exist, full stop.

Xiong Yiliao was a Chu warrior who fought under King Zhuang of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. Ancient Chinese annals state that he practiced nòngwán, "throwing multiple objects up and down without dropping". During a battle in about 603 BC between the states of Chu and Song, Xiong Yiliao stepped out between the armies and juggled nine balls, which so amazed the Song troops that all five hundred of them turned and fled, allowing the Chu army to win a complete victory.

Dude just walked in between two armies about to fight and pulled one of the biggest bluffs since the Empty Fort Strategy. But also, NINE BALLS!??!?! That’s amazingly impressive. The world record for most balls juggled at a single time TODAY is only 11. The record was set by Alex Barron on the 3rd of April, 2012. Juggling 9 balls is still considered a massive achievement. I’ve never really been able to progress beyond 3.

There’s another story from the Spring and Autumn period of a man named Lanzi who was known to walk around on stilts that were “twice as long as his body” while juggling 7 jian swords. Let’s put aside, for a moment, that jian swords are not weighted even remotely close to how modern juggling clubs or knives are and that they are far longer. The current record for most clubs juggled is only 8. It was set in 2023 by Moritz Rosner who managed a bare 18 tosses and catches before losing the pattern. Lanzi, by the way, was probably not the guy's actual name. Lanzi was often used as a general term for itinerant entertainers during this time.

The Ancient Greek historian Manetho once described jugglers and acrobats thusly:  “birds of the country, the foulest brood of the city.” Male and female jugglers jumped forward and backward over swords or tables; girls threw up and caught again a number of balls or hoops to the accompaniment of a musical instrument; others displayed an astounding skill with their feet and toes while standing on their hands.

And the Greek historian Xenophon once had this to say about the performance of a dancing girl at a party hosted by Socrates: And at the instant her fellow with the flute commenced a tune to keep her company, whilst someone posted at her side kept handing her the hoops till she had twelve in all. With these in her hands she fell to dancing, and the while she danced she flung the hoops into the air - overhead she sent them twirling - judging the height they must be thrown to catch them as they fell in perfect time.

The record for ring juggling, by the way, is only 13 rings and was set in 2002 by Albert Lucas who managed exactly 13 throws and catches.

Now, many of these ancient historians were known to exaggerate, so it's unclear if these historic records are real, or if they were just picking numbers they assumed were impressive. If the former, it’s wild that the records have increased by so little. If the latter, they were correct.

Ancient Roman sources make mention of jugglers and juggling fairly frequently. They mention contact juggling with glass spheres a number of times and Sidonius Apollinaris, a Roman officer leading a legion in the French province of Niemen, allegedly wrote in his letters that he enjoyed juggling three or four balls as a hobby for his own satisfaction and to entertain his companions in the legions.

The Boke of Saint Albans, published in England in 1486, contains one of my very favorite  juggling fun facts. It mentions a “Neverthriving of Jugglers” as part of a list of collective nouns. This is hilarious and painful and it is nearly impossible to make a thriving wage as a juggler.

Stewart Culin in Games of the North American Indians, a book that was written in 2012 lists examples of juggling among the Naskapi, Eskimo, Achomawi, Bannock, Shoshone, Ute, and Zuni tribes of North America. One example, quoted from George Dorsey, describes a game played by Shoshone women who juggled up to four balls made of mud, cut gypsum, or rounded water-worn stones. Dorsey describes betting contests in which the women raced toward an objective such as a tree or tipi while juggling. This is very similar to a modern day sport called joggling where participants juggle while jogging.

From 1768 onwards, when Phillip Astley opened the first modern circus he included jugglers along with his equestrian acts, acrobatics, and clowns. And in 1793 when John Bill Rickets brought the idea of the circus to the United States and performed for George Washington he juggled while on horseback. So largely from the 18th century forward juggling has been heavily associated with the circus. There have been man firsts and exciting advancements made in the field of juggling over the years. From Jim Harrigan creating the concept of comedic juggling to Dewitt Cook inventing the modern concept of club juggling when he performed a routine using Indian Clubs. Indian clubs are a heavy wooden club that was and still are used as a strengthening and conditioning tool. They are much heavier and not weighted quite the same as modern plastic clubs.

There have also been more weird stories, such as Enrico Rastelli who was born in Siberia in 1896. Widely hailed as one of the greatest jugglers of all time he was the first recorded person to juggle 10 balls, though he was never able to juggle 9.

There was also Charles Hoey who was the first to juggle 4 clubs, though he could not stop juggling without dropping. When performing on stage the curtain had to be closed while he was still juggling so the audience wouldn't see him drop.

Juggling has a long and delightfully quirky history. It’s one of my favorite party trick, though one that I don’t practice as often as I used to or as often as I should. Still, it’s fun to do and fun to learn about. I hope you enjoyed learning about it, because next week it’s right back into the breach.

That’s it for this week folks. No new reviews, so let’s get right into the outro.

Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. If you want to see/hear more of me you can find me on Tiktok @thehistorywizard or on Instagram @the_history_wizard. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you  for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day.