Village swing (, , ) is a large swing designed for multiple adults, traditionally built on village

communal land Communal land is a (mostly rural) territory in possession of a community, rather than an individual or company. This sort of arrangement existed in almost all Europe until the 18th century, by which the king or the church officially owned the la ...

, in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

.
Translated abstract available
In Estonia this communal land is called külaplats (village square, conceptually the same as

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

) or kiigeplats (swing square).

History

The practice of swinging has been with Estonian culture for a long time, its origin is not known. The prevalence of village swings was noted by Estophile August Wilhelm Hupel in 1781, stating "swings can be seen near almost every tavern and small village, often individual farms". In recent times, authorities have begun considering village swings to be a safety hazard. In 2013 the town government of

Saue Saue is a town in north-western Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saue Parish in Harju County. The territory of Saue is and population about 5,800. Closest centres are Tallinn (), Keila (), Saku () and Laagri (). Geography Saue ...

decided not to repair their swing because no companies were willing to accept liability in the event of damage.

Kiiking

The sport kiiking was invented in Estonia in 1993, where people compete for performing a full 360 rotation with a swing. The construction of kiiking swings is radically different from village swings, but shares the cultural underpinnings.

References

External links

Known locations of village swings on OpenStreetMap
Culture of Estonia Culture of Finland Playground equipment {{Finland-stub