Bajan stick licking
Encyclopedia
Bajan Stick-Licking or Stick Science traditional form of stick fighting
in Barbados
.
Bajan Stick-Licking or Stick Science is an African system of weapons fighting that features the use of fire hardened sticks of varying lengths. 'Lickin Stick' as it is usually known was most likely transferred to Barbados from the Kongo (Congo)/Angola region of Africa during the 15th century by military men who had been captured as prisoners of war. These soldiers were then purchased by various European enslavers and shipped as cargo to the Caribbean, where some ended up in Barbados as slaves.
For much of Barbados' history, this African Fight has been an integral part of the society. It has been a test of manhood, a fun but dangerous sport, a means of self defense and a method of settling disputes. Contrary to some mythology, Stick Lickin' is not a hybrid of African Stickfighting and European fencing, but is a Kalenda system and exists in many other parts of the African diaspora including Trinidad, Grenada, Puerto Rico and the United States.
References
Carrington, Sean (2007). A~Z of Barbados Heritage. Macmillan Caribbean Publishers Limited. pp. 199. ISBN 0-333-92068-6.
Similar styles are found in Trinidad
, Grenada
, Puerto Rico
and in the United States.
Stick fighting
Stick fighting is a generic term for martial arts which use simple long slender, blunt, hand-held, generally wooden 'sticks' for fighting such as a staff, cane, walking stick, baton or similar....
in Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
.
Bajan Stick-Licking or Stick Science is an African system of weapons fighting that features the use of fire hardened sticks of varying lengths. 'Lickin Stick' as it is usually known was most likely transferred to Barbados from the Kongo (Congo)/Angola region of Africa during the 15th century by military men who had been captured as prisoners of war. These soldiers were then purchased by various European enslavers and shipped as cargo to the Caribbean, where some ended up in Barbados as slaves.
For much of Barbados' history, this African Fight has been an integral part of the society. It has been a test of manhood, a fun but dangerous sport, a means of self defense and a method of settling disputes. Contrary to some mythology, Stick Lickin' is not a hybrid of African Stickfighting and European fencing, but is a Kalenda system and exists in many other parts of the African diaspora including Trinidad, Grenada, Puerto Rico and the United States.
References
Carrington, Sean (2007). A~Z of Barbados Heritage. Macmillan Caribbean Publishers Limited. pp. 199. ISBN 0-333-92068-6.
Similar styles are found in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and in the United States.