The Cheese Rolling Festival
Each spring, the US has the typical spring events: baseball games, the Tripple Crown, and a multitude of parties where many drink heavily under the guise of various celebrations. The UK, on the other hand, rolls cheese and drinks heavily...under no guise.
Here are the rules: "The rules of the game are simple, you show up, you chase cheese off a cliff, you tumble for a couple hundred yards, then you go to either the pub or the local hospital." Traditionally at the end of each May, thousands of spectators and cheese chasers travel to Gloucestershire to watch as a 7 pound wheel of cheese is rolled from the top of this hill (see below photo) reaching up to 70 mph. The master of ceremonies, dressed in a white suit, announces the launching of the cheese. The chasers then follow the cheese down the slope where the victor is the first person to arrive at the bottom of the hill. I'm not sure if they win the cheese. I'm also not sure if they must finish with all appendages still attached to the body.
As you can imagine, cheese rolling can be dangerous and the last authorized festival was held in 2009. Unofficial events have been held by rabid fans, but we will see if the cheese wheeling fun is revitalized this week.
- Wonder what it's like to prepare as a participant? So did BBC and they wrote an entire journal on it.
- Wish you could be there? How about a video without breaking any bones instead?
- So how dangerous is it really...I mean it's just cheese! Here's what Dr. Danger says.