Sometime around the middle of the last century, my mother, along with millions like her, went boom. Mother boomed thrice. First came my sister, then less than two years later, me. After a ten-year recovery of giving birth to me, she boomed her last and my brother appeared.
George B. Boomer, Union colonel in the Civil War. Considered a pre-Boomer because he was born in 1832.
If births were sounds, each of the individual 75 million plus births from 1946 to 1964 would have been recorded as a pop about as loud as a burst balloon. Collectively, however, all those little pops would have sounded like the boom of a three-ton bomb. You can take it from me, a notoriously unreliable source, that this is why we are called boomers.
Not long after mother boomed me out into the world, the modern hula-hoop was birthed, or more likely extruded, since it was made of plastic tubing.
Those plastic tubes appeared in July1958, just about the time I would’ve been getting bored with summer vacation. Another 25 million or more kids were equally bored because that’s how many hula-hoops were sold between July and October of that year. The fad spread worldwide, one could say it circled the globe (if one were an incorrigible punster). After an outbreak of public gyrating, the Japanese banned it. The Russians denounced it as one more indication of western decadence and went back to drinking vodka.
Before the ban: Japanese hula-hooping in 1958.
Hoops have been around since the time of the Greeks who used metal hoops and probably wore bruises to prove it. Sometime in the 18th century the hoops became associated with the Hawaiian dance, the hula. I imagine the association stuck because of alliteration, since the hip action is not the same.
Evidence that hoops encircled the world.
Two weeks ago I attended a “Hooping for Health” workshop at school. Apparently, hula-hoops are in circulation again among boomers. We spent an hour twirling, whirling, spinning, and learning tricks. I’m a very good hula hooper, if I do say so myself, and obviously I do. I easily walked forward and backward, maintaining the hoop around my middle like a personal equator. Then I learned to spin 360 degrees around inside the spinning hoop. Everyone clapped when I did that, even me.
Once the weather warms up, say around August if we’re lucky, I plan to buy a hula-hoop. Anything that makes me feel like a whirled champion is worth its weight in plastic.
year-struck 
I was shopping for a bicycle to reduce my waist. I fell off the first bike I tried. Perhaps a hula-hoop will keep me upright and work on my middle at the same time. Send photos when you get yours.
I will try to get some photos once I get a hula-hoop and it’s warm enough to go outside.
Post a youtube video of your talent! You never know. It may go viral.
Egads! What a thought. 🙂
I agree…a youtube video would be a riot on this particular subject! This piece had me laughing, beginning to end! Hula-hoop images are great ones to have on a -28 degree day here in Canada.
I am fearful of causing riots, so I probably won’t be making youtube videos of my hula-hooping.
I’ll look for you in the Olympics. This is an Olympic sport, right?
It definitely should be.
As I couldn’t even manage two revolutions, I didn’t see what all the “Hoop-La” was all about!
One of the participants in the workshop I went to had never hula-hooped before, but after about 40 minutes of trying was up and twirling. You should give it a whirl.
Ha, at my age I’d probably need a hip replacement..
I was going to ask for a picture… in August perhaps… But now, having read the request for a video, I think that would be even better, Sounds like a very attractive sport, though I have never tried it… and doubt that I ever will. But it’s enough for me to appreciate the accomplishments of others. Hoola high!
I may be able to come up with some pictures once the weather cooperates. I want to get a hoop for my grandchild so we can whirl together.
That sounds like a wonderful picture… with a grandchild.
More talent than moi, for sure! Glad you had fun with it 🙂
I like that it exercises muscles I don’t normally use for walking on the treadmill.
Don’t they have weighted hula hoops for exercise now? I saw one at a Women’s Expo where I live. I might have to get one to go with my other unused equipment…
The instructor in my hula-hoop class said he doesn’t recommend the weighted ones – too much weight hitting your kidneys. If it’s just for your collection, however, a weighted one might be nice. 🙂
I have happy memories of my childhood hula-hoop, so I am pleased to hear hula-hoops are back in circulation, although I suspect it will be a while before the latest craze spreads to these shores. Thanks for the potted history of the hula-hoop, I had no idea it was banned in Japan!
According to the following site, it was banned by both Japan and Indonesia.
Seems pretty tame compared to what goes on as entertainment now.
I was never any good at anything which meant going around in circles. It’s the vertigo, you see ………
As a kid, I loved the merry-go-round, but as an adult they made me sick to my stomach. Must be something to do with the inner ear.
come on, ms. yearstricken. you’re enjoying the whole hoopla, haha. have fun circling, being encircled and turning around for the applause. cheers! 🙂
I really enjoyed the hooping. Instead of a whooping crane, I am a hooping crone. 🙂