Fans of cheese might have heard of cheese rolling. Cheese-rolling is an event in which participants roll a large wheel of cheese down a hill and chase after it. Although it might seem silly to some, cheese-rolling actually has an interesting backstory.
The event originated in and is known for taking place in Gloucester, England, and is now known as the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling Contest. This is an annual event where people roll large wheels of Double Gloucester cheese down a hill and chase after it. The cheese wheel can reach speeds of over seventy miles per hour. The first person to reach the cheese or the bottom of the hill is declared the winner.
The people chasing the roll have a few of their techniques to chase the cheese. Some participants sideways roll down the hill while others run and, a lot of the time, fall over.
No one is completely sure what the origins of the race are, but one theory is that it came from a pre-Roman fertility rite – celebrating the return of spring. The history of this rite even goes back to Pagan origins of worshipping the sun.
The next cheese-rolling race takes place on May 26, with the first race starting at 12 pm and streams and highlights can be found on YouTube.
