How do you feel when you are on a merry-go-round? Is it exhilarating? Do you feel a sense of boundless joy? Or are you one of those who end up feeling giddy? Each one of us experience it differently and our own experiences too might vary from time to time.

Starts with horses

Have you, however, ever wondered as to why these rides predominantly have horses, and not, say, cows or elephants? You might have been tempted to associate the speed and thrill of the ride with that one might experience while riding a horse, but there’s actually a deeper connection.

Back in the 12th Century, Turkish and Arabian horsemen engaged in a training game that enabled them to practice their cavalry riding skills. Riding in circles, either on horseback or suspended from a spinning wheel, they either threw clay balls filled with perfume with the objective of not dropping it (the one who drops will be covered in that scent until they are able to take a bath), or jostled to knock off the hat of a man who was holding a stick. The Spanish and Italian crusaders who witnessed these dubbed them “little war,” the Italian word for which is carosello.

“has for its object to provide ample accommodation for occupants, a substantial mode of construction, and a convenient method of guiding it during motion.”William Schneider in his patent “Improvement in carrousels”

A day for the carousels

Once the European crusaders brought the game to their continent, the French further innovated the concept and gave it the name carrousel, meaning “a tilting match.” These innovations included legless wooden horses that were suspended from arms, all of which were connected to a rotating pole at the centre – making them the direct predecessors of the carousels as we know them today. With the central pole rotated by a human, horse, or mule, knights in shining armour practised spearing a hanging ring.

Fun exercise

For the audience that gathered around, it seemed like a fun exercise overall, spawning the need for carousels as a device for entertainment by the end of the 17th Century. Even as these carousels evolved from human- and animal-powered to bicycle-powered, later steam-powered and now motorised ones, their allure kept increasing. They became more colourful, more lively, more decorated, more bright, and more shiny and they became a must-have in a fair anywhere in the world.

While the golden age of carousels (1870-1930) might be behind us, these rides continue to be popular attractions across the globe. Be it a weekend visit to Chennai’s Marina beach, a ride with a view of Mount Fuji in Japan, a way to ring in the Chinese New Year in Singapore, or just a visit to a mall in Istanbul, Turkey, there’s a carousel for everything. When will you be getting on one next?

The mechanics of a merry-go-round

Published - July 25, 2026 07:46 am IST