Winter fun

The most ancient skates were discovered on the banks of the Southern Bug. These skates belonged to the Cimerians, a nomadic tribe that lived 3200 years ago in the Northern Black Sea region. The Cimerians were already skating during the Bronze Age. In age, they surpass the “inventory” of the ancient Dutch and Danes in Scandinavia.
Skates were known to the peoples of the northern countries as early as the 12th century. Then they were made of bone. They served as a means of transportation. Even in ancient times, people adapted pieces of wood and animal bones for fast movement on ice and snow. This is confirmed by the first ancient horses found during excavations on the shores of Ladoga and Peipsi lakes.

For the first time, the Canterbury monk Stephanius mentioned skating in literature, who in 1174 created the Chronicle of the Noble City of London. Here is how he described the winter fun: “When a large swamp, washing from the north of the city rampart near Moorefield, freezes over, whole groups of young people go there to play sports on ice. Some, striding as wide as possible, glide quickly. Others, more experienced in ice games, tie the tibia of animals to their feet and, holding sharp-tipped sticks in their hands, at times push them off the ice and rush with such speed as a bird in the air or a spear launched from a ballista ... "
In the 13th century in Holland and Iceland, skates appeared with an iron runner bent in front, inserted into a wooden block. They were tied to shoes with belts. And Russian craftsmen cut out the curved toe of a ridge in the form of a horse's head, hence the name “horse-ki”.

The first speed skating competition was held in the British Isles in 1763. The winner of the 15 mile race covered this distance in 46 minutes.
Speed skating competitions quickly spread in Holland, Scandinavia, and Russia.

More than three hundred years ago, the English diplomat Carlyle, who visited Moscow, wrote: "The favorite winter entertainment of Muscovites is ice skating." And in the works of A.I. Kuprin, L.N. Tolstoy, A.S. Pushkin, L.N. this is mentioned more than once.
The ingenious Pushkin sang a short but still unsurpassed hymn to them
How fun, shoeing your feet with sharp iron,
Glide on the mirror of standing flat rivers ...