Jumping Into Bushes Is the Latest Weird New Hobby

This article originally appeared on VICE France.

Spend enough time on YouTube and you’ll eventually come across videos of people launching themselves head-first into bushes. Like chucking rocks into bodies of water or souping up engines and exhausts, it seems to be one of those things that has a timeless, if unexplainable, appeal to men the world over. 

In cold, wet, blustery Brittany, northwestern France, jumping into bushes isn’t just a fun way to show off in front of the camera – it is a way of life. Sort of. 

At the turn of the millennium, French and German broadcaster Arte TV introduced viewers to a hitherto unknown hobby that went by the name of “mushary”. An episode of their long-running documentary series Tracks followed Boris, a white rasta in a boiler suit, as he and his friends explained that what on the surface was nothing more than a few friends fooling around was actually a Jackass-inspired anti-American, anti-capitalist protest. Yep, really. 

Boris and the bush-riders, who admit that part of the appeal of their pastime is that it is simply a dumb, fun way to spend a few hours outdoors, also explain the unusual origins of their hobby’s name. Weirdly, it is a portmanteau that refers to both literal “bush-riding” and the “Willow Palisade”, which was a large ditch in what was previously known as Manchuria. It was said that during wars between Manchuria and Mongolia, soldiers would hide in this ditch. Yep, really.

It might have an unusual name and an intriguing ideology, but few pastimes are as simple as mushary. There really is nothing more to it than jumping into or sliding down bushes and hedges. Preferably in a boiler suit.

We travelled to the port city of Brest to meet Etienne, Nico, and Thomas, a trio of bush-riders who first saw the documentary when they were at university and were inspired by Boris’s pioneering antics. “That lot took it really seriously. We just do it for a laugh after parties,” Etienne says. 

Etienne’s interest in mushary lasted long after he graduated from university. Every weekend after going out partying, he’d suggest the activity to friends. More often than not, other revellers agreed to give it a go. Since then, it has become increasingly common to see groups of young people throwing themselves into bushes all over Brest at weekends.

As mushary tends to go hand in hand with drinking, I was surprised by the guys’ infallible memories of which bushes they’ve already launched themselves into and the ones they’re yet to delve into. Having found the perfect spot, Nico slips into a white boiler suit that he’s been saving specifically for this session.

One by one, the lads climb atop an electric generator and throw themselves into a smattering of shrubbery located in a square in a residential neighbourhood of Brest. After three or four jumps each, the boys have scratched backs and an appetite to try somewhere new. 

“What if we went to the blue bridge?” suggests Nico. “No, it’s too far,” says Etienne, who has come straight from a party. “Let’s just go back to Charlie’s [a friend of theirs], there are bushes there as well.”

They eventually decide that, in fact, the blue bridge – a somewhat nondescript structure in the middle of the city – is where they want to head next. Threatening skies don’t dampen their spirits.

As we head toward the bridge, Nico launches himself into a bush outside a branch of Domino’s. The sight of a young man in a boiler suit sprawled in a bush gives passing motorists pause. As they circle a nearby roundabout, we see drivers glancing in our direction, amused and worried in equal measures. 

“This is one of my favourite places,” Nico says, pointing at a set of steps with bushes on either side of the blue bridge. “I’ve become a bit like a skater, always walking around town looking for new spots.”

Nico makes a few dives into the bushes before limping back. “I forgot to put my ankle support on,” he says. He sprained his ankle a few months back in a mushary-related accident. The injury hasn’t seen him cutting back on his arboreal acrobatics, even though he’s been advised to rest his feet.

Etienne also has a few war wounds. “I’ve already had a cracked rib and a bruised sternum, but I had it coming,” he says. “Mushary is an instinctive thing. You don’t think about it, you just do it. You’re not alert enough to think about the danger.”

The group leads us toward one final spot for the day, Swansea Square. They tell me that Emilie, one of the few women in the bush-riding scene, lives nearby, but won’t be joining us because of COVID. Nico, Etienne and Thomas agree that the bushes and hedges here are fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that we stay here until the evening doing all kinds of head-first flips and somersaults.  

In July 2018, Etienne’s university friend Gourmiche created a private Facebook group where local mushary aficionados share videos of their most recent dives. Today there are nearly 350 members, and while the rate of posting has slowed in recent years, the boys from Brest are still confident that their hobby will remain a part of the city’s identity for years to come. There’s a new generation of jumpers ready, willing and able to launch themselves into shrubbery. 

Check out more mushary photos below.