New Revelations of an Old Art Form by
Chris Ivey One of the greatest jugglers that the world has ever known once commented, "To be a great juggler, don't look at other jugglers, look at other art forms". His name is Francis Brunn, and his legacy is still being written. Today, in his seventies, he still travels the world dazzling crowds from one continent to another (Finnigan 537). This patron to the art has laid forth a common thought among jugglers, where do ideas come from? In this essay the question may finally be answered. Before the topic of juggling can be discussed, a common knowledge must be established. Once a vocabulary and brief history are established, then the topic can be understood and intelligently reviewed. To begin with, for the purpose of this essay the following terms should be comprehended. A cascade is a crossing pattern, where the objects constantly change hands, which jugglers use for odd numbers of props. For instance, a three-ball cascade would involve throwing the balls one at a time, each to the same height, and to opposite hands, in a figure eight pattern. For an even number of props, jugglers generally use a pattern known as columns. In this pattern, an equal number of props are juggled separately by each hand. Naturally, this would mean that four ball columns would involve juggling two balls in each hand and never having the balls change hands. A third, and for the purposes of this essay, final style of toss juggling is called multiplex. Multiplex implies throwing more than one object at the same time from the same hand. In other words, while juggling five balls if a juggler holds two balls for a split second and then throws them both at the same time from that hand through the pattern so that one lands in each hand, he or she would be multiplexing their pattern. In addition to basic juggling, there are also two juggling props that are of noteworthy importance, the devil stick and the diablo. Their origin and evolution will be viewed later. The devil stick consists of three sticks. One long "center" stick and two shorter "hand sticks". The center stick is what is commonly considered the devil stick. The two hand sticks are held and used to hit the devil stick back and forth. A diablo is a little more complex. It also has two hand sticks, but they are connected by a long piece of string. The diablo itself can be thought of as a giant yo-yo in an hourglass shape. Moving the string under the center of it spins the diablo. To understand juggling during the age of discovery, one must first understand juggling up to the period in question. The earliest record historians have of juggling dates back to ancient Egypt. Arthur Lewbel documents this in his essay Research in Juggling History, "From the fifteenth Beni Hassan tomb of an unknown prince, dating from the Middle Kingdom period of about 1994-1781 BC" (Lewbel 2). In this tomb are pictures of women jugglers (side profile, of course) throwing anywhere form one to three balls in the air. From the time of ancient Egypt till the Greeks, a period of about 1500 years, juggling experienced a sort of Dark Age (Ziethen 100). It is not to say that juggling did not exist, it is merely to say that it was not recorded in any way. After all, it would be naive to believe that juggling was created twice in history. In the forth and fifth century BC recorded juggling reemerged, largely thanks to the Greeks. The rebirth occurred in art. Jugglers began to be documented in pottery, sculptures, and poetry. A Terra Cotta statue dating 200 BC depicts a man balancing a ball on his head, another on his knee, and holding a third ball in his hand (Lewbel 3). It is also at this point in time that juggling began to be seen as a form of recreation and not just entertainment. It is also noteworthy, as it again manifests itself during this historical period, that there is a growing theme of jugglers being all female (Ziethen 10). If the forth century is remembered for anything it should be marked as the era when good records of juggling began. This era began to create itself during the height of Rome and has managed to remain somewhat consistent to the present. Romans were very fond of jugglers. Juggling was documented on pottery, wall-reliefs, and all throughout ancient writings. Sixteen of Martial's poems show that juggling was widespread throughout Rome. In particular, the Roman's can be credited with the first documented style of juggling. Roman's interest with war led to an interesting manipulation of shields and weapons. The style would most likely have involved balancing of spears, shields, and even full size chariots. (Ziethen 10-11) Romans commonly referred to jugglers as ventilatores (knife-throwers) and pilarii (ball players) (Truzzi and Truzzi 2). However, it should be noted that the Romans are not the first to juggle weapons or to associate juggling with war. According to Arthur Lewbel, "The Chinese Book of Lie Zi, written during the Warring States period (475-221 BC) and attributed to Lie Yukou, describes a Lan Zi from the state of Song in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) that juggled seven swords." (Lewbel 3) In fact, Fu Qifeng wrote an entire essay documenting case after case of Chines history when jugglers appeared on the battlefield. Usually, these jugglers slash acrobats would entertain both sides of two warring families. Often the families were so impressed that they decided to no longer fight. Jugglers prevented many a war. (Qifeng) But returning to Rome, to understand the extent of juggling in the Roman Empire, look no farther than the grave of a Roman named Tagatus Ursus (53-117 AD). On the Grave inscription Tagatus claims to be the first to juggle with glass balls (Ziethen 10). Another Roman juggler of interest was a legionnaire named Sidonious Apollinaris. Apparently, Sidonious would entertain his troops by juggling three balls (Finnegan 544). However, with the fall of the Roman Empire so came the fall of juggling into disgrace. It was during this period (roughly the forth to tenth century) that juggling entered a second era of dark ages regarding record keeping. It was also during this period that juggling began to be combined with magic. Legions of "jongleurs" filled the countryside of England and France during this period. They performed with balls and knives (Finnegan 544). Not until the conclusion of the Middle Ages did juggling begin to regain its respectability (Ziethen 11). Around 1100 AD poets who usually performed for the wealthy class began to tour, largely in France. Eventually, these poets combined with jongleurs and the renaissance minstrel was born. The first documented organization of minstrels developed in Fecamp in the tenth century. Since that time (around the time of William the Conqueror 1066) and lasting for four centuries, the title "King of the Jugglers" was bestowed upon the best palace entertainers in all of England. (Finnegan 544) While juggling's history continues, this brings it into the Age of Discovery and the thus the period this essay wishes to focus on. While this history is useful, if this essay does not intend to prove a point the last two pages are worthless. Therefore, it is the purpose of this essay to dispel the accusation that the jugglers of Europe who lived during the Age of Discovery stole techniques from other countries such as China, Japan, India, and the Americas. This, in actuality, is utterly impossible. It was not until the late Eighteenth century that a blending of juggling styles from region to region began to occur. Following this proof, the paper will then briefly make a few comments about the mindset of Europe as well as a look at juggling past the Age of Discovery. When attempting to prove that the jugglers during the Age of Discovery were not corrupted by outside influences, it becomes important to look at two props of particular interest, the devil stick and the diablo. Both props were created by the Chinese and used by their jugglers. However, both of these props have been heavily associated with European jugglers during the time of the Discovery. In actuality, the props themselves did not appear, at least in documented form, in Europe until the 1790's. (Strong 32) Therefore, strictly from a timeline perspective it would have been impossible for the prop to be used by Europeans during the Age of Discovery. The first notes on these props came from missionaries and ambassadors to China. Increased Asian relations at the time made these trips possible. It was also a time of curiosity in the minds of Europeans. Without an immediate desire or need for wealth or spices, the Europeans were able to let their minds wonder. Missionaries and ambassadors were instructed to write down and document as much as possible. This included the way foreigners dressed, lived, ate, and groomed. The Europeans began documenting their encounters with these people. Of particular interest was what they played with. (Strong 32) Two toys of great interest were the devil stick and diablo, but these were not the Chinese names. The diablo was called "kung-chung", meaning hollow shimmering bell. The Chinese created the name because their diablos were made of wood or hollow bamboo. When the diablo was spun it would make a whistling noise. Missionaries, not caring what the Chinese people called the prop, decided on a different name. Missionaries were very well educated people in Greek; they chose the Greek name diaballo. "Dia" means across and "ballo" means to toss or throw. However, from the beginning the prop was almost doomed in England. A second meaning of diaballo is to slander or traduce. This second meaning led to the belief of a sort of evil spirit sense to the prop. This transition came largely from a biblical reference in the Greek version of the New Testament. While Jesus was in the desert a diabolus spirit tempted him. It is likely that the missionaries who named this prop did not intend or even believe that the prop was evil, but rather that a bad language coincidence existed. The devil stick followed a similar path to destruction. The original Chinese name for the devil stick was a "hua kun", or flower stick. Again, the Chinese name describes the prop. The Chinese devil stick (center stick) was very short, almost equaling the length of the hand sticks. During certain tricks the stick would appear to open up like a flower. However, whether lack of understanding or simple disregards, the European observers changed the name. The devil stick was originally also referred to as a diablo. (Strong 32,33) However, keeping with the religious beliefs of the time, it was thought that anyone who could manipulate a stick in such a fashion must have sold their soul to the devil to gain such ability (Dancey 29-30). It is interesting to note that this label was not placed on diablo artist. This suggests that the human mind can accept that a diablo is a humanly possible prop, where as a devil stick could never be mastered. This may also have been due to the commonness of the diablo in China. The Chinese take the prop very seriously. It is taught to children at a young age and was as common as a kickball on a Chinese playground. Perhaps, because the missionaries noted children playing with the prop an immediate demonic name was overlooked. So what does this mean? Well, strictly from a timeline point of view it would have been impossible for European jugglers to copy a prop that was not yet available to them. Therefore, any modern references to European jugglers using these props prior to the 1790's was fabricated and unresearched. Secondly, The evil connotations associated with these props lead to the belief that in a time of strict religious beliefs the community would have shunned these props. Finally, the renaming of the props by the missionaries illustrates a few things concerning technique, as well. First, the main reason for the renaming was dominance and superiority of the European culture over that of the Orient. Secondly, the renaming with evil references can be seen as a way to prevent the spread of these props in Europe. This would imply that Europeans were both protective and satisfied with the styles of recreation and entertainment that they already had. Therefore, European jugglers would not have stolen these props during the Age of Discovery. Looking beyond particular props it is important to consider the people who were the jugglers of the era. As discussed earlier, the jugglers of this period were living in troops of minstrels. Despite what little records exist about these groups, as a whole a simple understanding is available. These troops traveled and lived what could best be described as gypsy lives. They traveled from village to village with no permanent home. (Truzzi Truzzi 2) This lifestyle also corresponds with the lack of education among these performers. Constant travel did not aid their quest for book knowledge. Moving from city to city and constantly rehearsing the act consumed the majority of time outside of performing. The only educated members of the groups would have been the poets. However, it is unlikely that the poets would have taught the jugglers anything. After all, poetry was the poet's performance; therefore, he would not have taught the juggler to read anymore than the juggler would teach the poet to juggle. This low level of education led to the treatment of minstrels, which can be characterized as a clash of artist versus townsperson. To be blunt, the minstrel was always welcome until the show was over, and sometimes the troops could not even make it that far. In general, towns always welcomed the entertainment but never the company. Unlike bards, minstrels were not always welcomed and showered in gifts. Unfortunately, minstrels were constantly questioned as to their association with witchcraft. Juggling was often performed with magic. Juggling became associated with sorcery all to quickly. Doctor Johannes Faustus (1480-1540) commented on this brand of sorcerers, which he referred to as conjurers, "The conjurer was a figure of fear and ridicule, respect and suspicion." (Chandler 2) This confusion of juggler and magician can be clarified by the fact that the juggler exposes everything he or she does allowing the audience to know and see everything. A magician, however, attempts to hide things and fool the audience. Unfortunately, townspeople were unaware of this and many a juggler went "up in a blaze" of false accusations. This confusion and treatment illustrates two important points. People's feelings and even hatred towards minstrels would have prevented the minstrel from being associated with any sort of knowledge base that would inform them about juggling in other cultures. Largely due to the Catholic Churches hold on people's lives, a townsperson can be expected of nothing less than how they acted. Living in the constant fear of pagan association, it is more than likely that people would have been afraid to even watch a performance of anything involving even the slightest bit of magic. The inquisition was certainly not a friend of the juggler. It would logically follow that if a simple townsperson viewed them as evil and uneducated and not even worthy to sleep in their barn, than a wealthy trader is certainly not going to entertain them with stories about juggling styles of far off cultures. Therefore, this lack of access to information would have made it impossible for minstrels to even hear about the techniques of distant lands. Of course minstrels could have talked to each other. However, this is highly unlikely. Minstrels were not in the business of sharing information. With a lack of jobs that would allow minstrels without burning them at the stake, competition would have been very high. If an act were better, minstrels would not copy or steal the idea; they would invite the performer to join their troop. Minstrels were in constant search for the "edge", that special something that would make their act standout. With all of this in mind it is impossible for minstrels to have shared any ideas from other cultures. The techniques, styles, and even props they used were strictly their own. Minstrels focused on knife and ball juggling. The minstrels made the props themselves out of clay and leather (Finnigan 544). Jugglers of the orient and India focused on juggling balls that were usually apples or brass, things that would not have to be made but found (Hazlitt 1). Unlike the endless amount of seaports with their knowledge bases, no minstrel knowledge base existed. In other words, when minstrels were not colliding with the world they were colliding with each other. All of these factors prove that the minstrel culture of Europe would have been forced to create their own ideas, props, techniques, and styles because of fear of each other and greed. Having looked at who would have been interested in the techniques of jugglers around the world, it becomes important to look at who would have actually come into contact with these foreign jugglers. Explorers have been driven by one eternal constant, wealth. Therefore, juggling was of little value to the explorer (this is evident even today, because no juggler will ever say that they chose this career for the money). Juggling props such as devil sticks were of little value to traders as well, because the only people interested in buying them would be other jugglers. Despite however long it took, as time progressed explorers did begin to make notes about jugglers. These notes, however, only continue to prove that styles and tricks could not have been copied. The first reference to Indian jugglers (American not Hindu) comes from Prince Maximilian Wied-Neuwied. He wrote in his Travels in the Interior of North America about women of the Mandan Indian tribe who were experts at manipulating large leather balls. (Truzzi 1) Other references to Indian jugglers show that the shaman of a tribe often presented juggling during a religious ceremony. Famed juggler Marcello Truzzi noted that even the Aztecs utilized jugglers in such a way (Truzzi Truzzi 1). Other historical references include the essay The Indian Juggler published in 1828. The essay describes, amidst bizarre references to the author's life and mindset, a juggler from India performing with four balls. All of these documents are consistent in their inaccuracies and lack of completeness. The constant failures of these records made it impossible for jugglers to have copied anything, and here is why. In its simplest form saying an explorer is not a juggler could sum it up, however an elaboration is necessary. In the modern world jugglers use an intricate math system known as site swaps to characterize patterns. Site swaps can be best described as sheet music for jugglers. To explain a pattern from one juggler to another, all the juggler would have to do is give a simple list of numbers and the other juggler would immediately know what the pattern would look like and how to juggle it. During the Age of Discovery no such system existed. This would have made it very difficult to accurately describe a pattern from one juggler to another. Even if such a system would have existed, there is no chance that an explorer would be familiar with it. Similar to the present day, no MIT professor is sitting around pondering the existence of site swaps. Explorers, like anyone who does not juggle, simply did not have a juggling oriented brain. It has been proven through experiments conducted by this author as well as by other jugglers and college professors that a good, attentive audience will remember approximately ten percent of an hour long juggling performance. In addition, what an audience remembers are not specific tricks but props, customs, and jokes. Rarely, will an audience remember a specific movement, pattern, or technique. Therefore, this would hold true of explorers as well, hindering them from translating any specific styles of juggling to other Europeans. To make this point factual one has to look no farther than the art world. Every drawing of a juggler from the creation of juggling to the present depicts impossible renderings of jugglers. The basic painting of a juggler depicts the juggler with arms spread widely apart and the balls aligned perfectly next to each other in one constant arc. Evaluation of these paintings combined with knowledge of juggling proves them to be created by nonjugglers. Here is why. In order to have each ball following each other in a circular pattern a rare technique called showering would have to have been employed. Showering involves one hand throwing the balls very high in one constant arc and the other hand rapidly passing the balls from hand to hand. Here is where the inaccuracies begin. In order to do this pattern the elbows must be tight against the body and the arms stretched out in front of the juggler. In the paintings the arms are always wide and outstretched. It would be impossible to juggle a shower pattern in such a fashion. Secondly, shower patterns are not the common juggling pattern. The patterns most jugglers use are columns and cascades (as discussed earlier). It is impossible that every juggler ever painted did a shower pattern for the artist. Thirdly, the current world record for showering is seven balls. Only two or three people in the world can accomplish this record. In addition, to date there is absolutely no record of any juggler performing a seven-ball shower. The average professional juggler if he is very accomplished will perform a five-ball shower. Only one juggler in the history of the art, Gregory Popovich, has performed a six-ball shower, yet the paintings constantly depict at least six to seven balls in shower patterns. There are plenty of reasons for these painting errors. To begin with, a person who does not juggle has no comprehension of what a cascade looks like. Therefore, he or she is likely to depict the pattern the best way his or her brain can comprehend it. This comprehension is usually a circle; however, the mind can comprehend body position. This leads to the positioning of the arms to the outside of the body, because in a cascade the arms are constantly moving in circles extending the arms to the outside for every catch. Secondly, the human (nonjuggling) mind cannot comprehend any number of objects past three and in some exceptions past four. This accounts for the insane number of objects depicted as being juggled. It is likely that the jugglers pictured never reached levels higher than five or maybe six objects. All of the inadequacies of juggling in art continue to add to the unlikeness that European jugglers could have copied styles from other cultures through paintings. If a juggler during the Age of Discovery was to view such a painting, he or she would be left with nothing but confusion as to what the juggler is supposed to be doing. It would be naïve to believe that the first explorers to reach the New World did not witness Indian jugglers. However, these explorers would have quickly overlooked and even denounced Indian jugglers for two reasons. First, juggling was a game played by women Indians. Early explorers cared little for games and more for gold. In addition, keeping with the mindset of the male dominated exploration, women would have been quickly overlooked as possessing any worthwhile knowledge about anything. Secondly, Indian juggling was heavily associated with religious practices (Ziethen 11). As Willis Shirk pointed out in his essay Encounters With the New World, Indian religious practices were heavily associated with pagan religions of Europe (Shirk 1). Therefore, it is more than likely that explorers feared and hated Indian jugglers and would have cared little about reporting findings of them. Thirdly, in recent times it has been discovered that the Aztec Indians created a style of juggling known as antipodism. This involves the manipulation of objects with the feet while the juggler either lies on his or her back or balances in a head stand position. (Ziethen 11) Despite the Aztecs practice of this, it does not rise as a recognized juggling style until the early 1900's in France. Therefore, when presented with a distinct style of juggling, explorers chose not to relate it to their European counterparts. Therefore, jugglers during the Age of Discovery, even if they could have had access to information, could not have copied styles because the styles were not documented. When they were documented it was still of no value to the juggler because of its inadequacies. Moving beyond the particulars of juggling itself, Europe has never been a culture fond of copying anything. Kirkpatrick Sale continually illustrates this in his book The Conquest of Paradise. When faced with obvious benefits to changing their beliefs, Europeans will stick to their primitive ways. This can best be illustrated in agriculture. When faced with obvious benefits of greater crop yields, better irrigation, and reduced labor, Europeans chose to denounce the Indians use of the land and promote their own methods. (Sale chapter 4) Relating this fact to juggling, it is natural to believe that explorers were familiar with juggling. When an explorer noted an Indian juggler he would quickly denounce it by the belief that European jugglers, like everything else European, were superior (possibly because the European juggler wore cloths while juggling). This mindset hindered the transition of juggling styles from culture to culture. Following the Age of Discovery juggling continually increased in respectability as well as in volume. More people began to juggle and more people began to recognize it as a legitimate art. This recognition along with an increased number of jugglers led to the need for more specialized juggling. This idea manifested itself the most during the beginning of the nineteenth century. Considering the time period, the printing press, invented in the 1470's, was now producing all sorts of documents including references and findings about juggling (Sale 41). A more educated population (that had moved beyond church brainwashing and into a state of medieval tolerance), including jugglers, suddenly found themselves with information concerning juggling acts around the world. Modern travelling methods allowed jugglers to travel to distant lands and see these acts for themselves. In addition, explorers became much more concerned with detail in their writings. This is evident in the following record by John B. Stair in his work titled Old Samoa; or, Flotsam and Jetsam from the Pacific Ocean of 1897. He described people throwing six to eight oranges in the air. As time progressed clear and distinct records such as these became the norm and not the exception. In 1901 Max and Bertha Ferrars conducted a study in Burma. Part of their research included one of the earliest known references to contact juggling (a style of juggling that involves rolling one to two balls around the body). They described a game played with a ball being rolled across the arms, off the elbow, caught on the knee, and then kicked to another player. (Truzzi 1) This medieval game of hackeysack combined with juggling would later manifest itself as a very popular style of juggling in Europe. All of the methods of juggling allowed jugglers all over the world to not only blend and create styles of juggling but also to travel the world performing them. In a way Columbus did more than unite the world, he united jugglers. His discovery led to the beginning of a wonderful blend of juggling styles. Jugglers began to pull tidbits of techniques from around the world and create new and distinct forms of manipulation inspired from all cultures, religions, and realms of juggling. The greatest juggler the world has ever known was also one of the first jugglers to utilize these resources. Enrico Rastelli (1896-1931) toured the world until his early and unfortunate death at the age of thirty-four. Enrico began his career after being inspired by a juggler he had witnessed in Russia named Takaschima. Takaschima used a stick clenched in his teeth to manipulate a large cotton ball. This inspiration led Enrico, who was born in Siberia while his circus family was touring Russia, to adopt this Japanese ball manipulation style. However, Rastelli did not simply copy the tricks he saw, but he also expanded on them and the props itself. This eventually led to the creation of many tricks and moves that are still being copied by jugglers today. (Truzzi Truzzi 4) (Ziethen 144) Without the collective efforts of Columbus and his later counterparts, the world may never have known this phenomenal juggler because he never would have been able to create what he did. Another juggler who realized the potential of imitation was D'Alvini (his real name was William Peppercorn). Although born in London in 1847, he traveled and practiced in Japan. He eventually began billing himself as Japanese due to their distinct style of juggling. He was fond of calling himself the "Jap of Japs". D'Alvini is actually the man responsible for introducing the Japanese style of juggling to Europe. He brought the first troop of Japanese jugglers to Europe and eventually to America. His act included a combination of balancing Japanese pagodas along with slight of hand magic. It is important to note the D'Alvini's act was very original. He did not steal their style of juggling; he gained inspiration from their culture. (Evans 3) Japan, however, was not the only object of Western juggling admiration. In the 1820's Mooty and Medua Samme, two East Indian brothers, began to tour Europe. Their performances included classic ball manipulation combined with devil stick play. Their style of Far East juggling became so popular that many European jugglers began to bill themselves as being India. Carl Rappo, a German born juggler, billed himself as being form India. He performed classic oriental ball manipulation. Duplicate jugglers like him and others made it hard for a genuine Indian juggler to standout. However, one Burmese juggler did manage to play to rave reviews throughout Europe. His name was Moung-Toon, and he worked only with his feet. This illustrates the negative aspect of Columbus's discovery in the juggling community. By uniting the world, Columbus paved the way for lazy, uninspired jugglers to bank off of the success of other styles without creating or building on them. In other words, they simply mimicked what they saw and cared little for the beauty of its creation. Despite a few blemishes on the history record of jugglers, by the late 1800's distinct styles of juggling were beginning to be carved out. Three distinctly different styles evolved. The first was equestrian jugglers, or jugglers who juggle while standing on horseback. The second style was the strongman juggler. These jugglers manipulated war objects like cannon balls and even cannons. The third style of juggling created is that of the Gentlemen juggler. These men and women manipulated objects associated with gentlemen such as hats, canes, and cigars. All three of these styles led to the creation of vaudeville. (Ziethen chapters titled by the three styles) Vaudeville was the peak of juggling. Never before in the history of the art did it ever receive so much admiration, respect, and popularity. It also led to a forth and previously unexplored area of juggling, comedy. With the invention of television, vaudeville passed away. To prevent juggling from becoming a lost art, Art Jennings along with a handful of other jugglers created the International Juggling Association in 1947. Although the organization would remain dormant for twenty years it is now larger and better than ever. (Conway 2) It served a noble purpose of preserving this glorious art for decades in the past and centuries to come in the future. If this essay establishes anything outside of the realm of juggling, it is this. Europe was truly, in the words of Lucy from the Peanuts comic strip, a "blockhead" country. It was so sure that it was the best that it overlooked anything even the slightest bit different. If it could have opened its mind, jugglers today could be exploring patterns and tricks never dreamed possible. Thousands of people's lives could have been saved through plant medicines. Millions of people could have prevented homelessness by having a place to build a home and land to farm. Above all, Europe set the world back by about one hundred years because of its greed and stubbornness. By looking at juggling this becomes painfully obvious. Juggling in itself is actually (and it pains the author of this paper greatly to say this) irrelevant in the larger scheme of the world and its day to day running. The world would go on without juggling as an entertainment form. However, Europeans did not overlook their constant bad attitude even in their dealings with jugglers. From missionaries who proved European dominance by changing the name of a juggling prop to the church instilling fear of a juggler who can make a quarter disappear by hiding it in the palm of his hand, Europe has remained stubborn in insuring that every detail hold their mark of approval and their control. Considering how they acted to juggling it is no wonder the destruction that they later went on to create. Europe did not just set back juggling it set back the world. Despite the European's mindset, honestly speaking if it was not for them (as mentioned earlier) juggling would have never advanced to the point it did. However, it is perfectly clear that the jugglers during the Age of Discovery did not and could not have copied the juggling styles of other countries and cultures around the globe. Besides the obvious results of the early explorer's voyages they actually did much more. By uniting the world they united jugglers. When this occurred juggling was able to grow and flourish like never before. Soon styles of juggling emerged blending the cultures into new and exciting methods of manipulation. Christopher Columbus is truly a patron of the juggling arts. If it were not for him, juggling never would have reached the immense peak that it has. Therefore, the next time you the reader of this essay watch a juggler perform consider that if it was not for Christopher Columbus, you would not have the privilege of viewing a modern form of a world wide, culturally blended art. Working Bibliography
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