Bungee jumping is an extreme sport that consists of jumping from a high structure, which can be a bridge or a platform, with the ankles or waist attached to an elastic rope. The origin of this modality is a traditional rite of passage, called Naghol. Performed by the men of Pentecost Island, in Vanuatu. An archipelago in Oceania.
During the yam harvest months, from April to June.
They build a 15-meter-high tower from which young people jump with vines tied to their ankles.
The size of the vine is exact so that the jumper. With his neck tilted upwards, lightly scrapes his shoulder on the ground, without getting hurt.
The ritual that gave rise to bungee jumping is based on a legend. A young woman who did not want to have sex with her husband fled into the woods and climbed a tree. She tied a vine to her feet and threw herself down. Not knowing that she was held by the rope, he jumped after her and died. After what happened, the men of the tribe began to jump, attached to the vines, never to be deceived again.
Although Naghol is a centuries-old ritual.
Creators in the West established bungee jumping in the middle of the last century, and today it attracts adventure sports fans from all over the world.
According to the Guinness Book.
Englishman Curtis Rivers holds the record for the highest bungee jump in the world.
He jumped from a hot air balloon to a height of 4,632 m in Spain on May 5, 2002.
In Brazil, the largest bungee jump is at the Gasper Adventure Park, in Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul. Jumpers make the jump from a platform fixed 150 m high, with the drop ranging between 40 m and 60 m.
