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“Jamaica was unique among the countries in the New World, along with Brazil, Colombia, and Suriname, as having a strong tradition of maroonage and the persistence of local combative traditions. In general, one should be wary of creating too strong a connection between maroonage and the persistence of Afro-descended combative traditions. Barbados provides an interesting exception to this scenario as having experienced only a slight tradition of maroonage, yet sticklicking persisted throughout the island until the 1960s. Be that as it may, the history of Jamaica as it pertains to civilian combative traditions began when the English captured Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655. From this point, sugarcane plantations in Jamaica rapidly increased between 1740 and 1790. With the expansion of this commodity came an importation of African prisoners- of war and an increase in maroonage. Here in the mountains among the maroon towns in Jamaica that we find the practice of stick fighting or Sticklicking persists.

The maroon communities continue a tradition of machete fighting and use the sticks as substitutes to ensure safety while training. The sticks used are similar in length to those used by Bajan sticklickers of a little over three feet. Other similarities with Bajan sticklicking include the lack of a musical accompaniment. There is a however a performative component done during the celebrations of ‘Jankanu’ in December, where the sticklicking occurs in a more visually exciting way. Both Jamaican and Barbadian styles prefer a one-handed grip, which differs from the twohanded grips favored in most Afro-descended stick arts. Nonetheless, one informant claimed there is a Jamaican tradition of fighting with sticks using a two-handed grip. There are several notable differences between the two traditions, though. Jamaican Sticklicking emerged from the marron communities of a free African people in the mountains of Jamaica. In contrast, Bajan Sticklicking took shape among the sugar cane plantations, where due to environmental conditions, maroonage never played a significant role in Barbadian history. On a more technical level, the Jamaican preparation of the stick relies on West African Kromanti spirituality, also known as ‘Kromanti Obeah,’ while in Barbados, there was a mention of this by one informant, but in large part, there was not any ‘mounting of the sticks.’ The pedagogy was different, too, in that Bajan Sticklicking is taught through a carefully gradated level of sets of attacks and defenses known as ‘cuts’ progressing from the simple to the complex. In Jamaica, by contrast, the training is more intuitive and taught through the means of a ‘war dance.’ Finally, the Bajan stick was the principal fighting weapon while in Jamaica, the sticks substituted for a machete (Forde, 2018).”
-Michael J. Ryan, Armed combative traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean: A Hoplological Overview