Baby jumping, world’s most dangerous sport?

Traditional Spanish customs can often strike Britons as slighty… quirky. From stuffing their mouths with grapes as the clock strikes on New Year´s Eve, to walking backwards into the sea for Fiesta de San Juan, it is no secret that the Spanish are prone to encouraging good luck a little differently. However, whimsically odd transcends quickly into downright bizarre with the more bewildering tradition of jumping over babies.

Taking place in Castrillo de Murcia every year, dating back to 1620, this contest indeed does exactly what it says on the tin. After sprinkling their one year-infants with confetti and rose petals to bless them, mothers and onlookers alike watch in part reverence and part downright trepidation as a man, dressed colourfully in yellow as the devil (or the Colacho) leaps over the babies, laid out on a mattress, in an alleged bid to cleanse them of original sin. The town is also believed to be purged of sin after the event has taken place.

The competition is notorious for its slack grasp on safety, and Spanish priests have been vehemently encouraged to distance themselves from the risky tradition. 

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