Play set:Duncan Yo-Yo Juggling Set

The rising popularity of amateur juggling in the United States for the past twenty years perpetuates a centuries-old form of entertainment. Depictions of juggling--tossing a number of objects in the air and successfully catching them to toss again--have appeared in the ancient cultures of Greece, Rome, India, Norse, China, Mexico, and Polynesia. The earliest image of jugglers--women, by the way--was found in a tomb of an unknown Egyptian prince that dated from about 1900 or 1800 BC. Egyptian priests used juggling to divine the future and to ward off danger. Jugglers amused Europeans until the Medieval Church frowned on them, perhaps because juggling became associated with magic and sleight of hand entertainment and even with witchcraft. Jugglers took to the streets, marketplaces, fairs, carnivals, and drinking houses. When the modern circus became popular in Europe in the late eighteenth century, jugglers found a new venue for their acts. The variety shows of nineteenth-century music halls and theaters gave jugglers another home where they often performed in front of the curtain while stagehands changed sets for the next act. As live entertainment in vaudeville and variety shows lost out to popular motion pictures in the twentieth century, juggling's popularity declined. But if fewer professionals performed for the public, juggling became popular among amateur devotees whose numbers grew as the twentieth century progressed. These days, most cities and large towns have juggling clubs. Jugglers support the local clubs, a national organization, magazines, Web sites, Internet forums, annual shows, special events, and conventions, and even a World Juggling Day each year in mid-June. Many novice jugglers develop their skills with juggling sets like this one containing three scarves (used to practice the fundamentals), three balls (for once the jugglers gets the knack), and an instructional CD-ROM, featuring juggling expert Steve Brown.