While talking so much of the Hula last week, I was curious to see if the Hula Hoop and the Hawaiian Hula had anything to do with each other. I tried to find the history of the hula hoop and I found a few articles which I'll try to sum up in case anyone else was curious. Hoops had been around since as far back as ancient Egypt but Hula Hooping didn't come around until there were similarities spotted between the shape of a hoop and the shape of the Hula dance (so there is a connection!). American soldiers used the term hooping to describe this connection in the 18th century. The first official hula hoop came about in 1958 and no one was able to make a patent off it because hoops had been around for a very long time.
Here are two of the articles if anyone wants to read more information.
http://spinninghoop.com/hula-hoop-memories/history.htm
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/hulahoop.htm
In doing my reading report on the Hula this was actually something I had wondered. The hip movement of hula hooping is actually quite similar to that of actually dancing the hula. I'm very glad that you posted this connection. I think it is extremely interesting.
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