23. Bull Leaping
Unlike bullfighting, bull-leaping is a non-violent ancient game of acrobatics. The player has to leap over the back of a charging bull or cow. Depending on the variation of bull leaping, the acrobat either does a backflip off of the horns of the bull, jumps over the bull without ever touching it, or pushes himself off of the bull’s back with a somersault. Some of the earliest artwork will bull leaping was traced back to the 13th Century BC. The bull will typically jerk its head back, giving the leaper the momentum to jump over the bull with ease.
Today, some cultures still have coming-of-age traditions – they just might not be quite as extreme. In the ancient Indus Valley, it was considered to be a rite of passage for a man to leap over a bull. For the Minoans, bulls were seen as being a holy animal worthy of worship. This is still the case today in India, where cows are sacred. Because of this, many scholars believe that bull-jumping was a religious and ceremonial rite.