Goose pulling is an old sport originally played in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, England and North America from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The sport involves a goose that is hung by its legs from a pole or rope that is stretched across a road. A man riding on horseback at a full gallop would attempt to grab the bird by the neck in order to pull the head off. Whoever makes off with the head is declared winner and becomes the noble hero of the day. Goose pulling is still practiced today, in parts of Belgium and in Grevenbicht in the Netherlands as part of Shrove Tuesday and in some towns in Germany as part of the Shrove Monday celebrations.
During the old days a live goose was used. To make the sport challenging, the goose's neck was generously oiled to make it difficult to retain a grip on it, and the bird's constant fluttering and flailing made it difficult to target it in the first place. Sometimes "a nigger� with a long whip in hand was stationed near the target who would harass the horse as he passed by.
The prizes of a goose-pulling contest were trivial � often the dead bird itself, other times contributions from the audience or rounds of drinks. The main draw of such contests for the spectators was the betting on the competitors, sometimes for money or more often for alcoholic drinks.
Today, instead of live geese, dead ones are used, but that doesn�t make the sport any less brutal. Even during the old days when animal brutality were common, goose pulling was often frowned upon and sometimes compared to the barbarous practice of bull-fighting. 10 more images after the break...
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