Lazy Days from Practical Ways
It’s always nice to spend a lazy afternoon lounging and swinging in a cotton hammock. But these comfortable swinging loungers began with a much more practical use. The origin of the hammock is credited to ancient Greece with a student of Socrates named Alcibiades in 450 B.C. While he used the hammock as a relaxing and comfortable bed, hammocks were a means of survival in other parts of the world.
Tribes in South America relied on the hammock to protect themselves from the dangers of the jungle at night. By hanging above the ground, the hammock kept the tribal people away from predators and killer insects, as well as the moisture on the ground that comes with jungle evenings. Now a means of pure relaxation, the hammock started out with a very practical function.