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“The primary martial expression of the island, a form of stick fighting known as stick-licking, was associated with Crop Over. In colonial times, Crop Over was a festival at the end of the sugar harvest. Traditional Crop Over went into decline during the early twentieth century, but during the 1970s it was revived as a tourist holiday.
The origins of stick-licking are presumably African, as the name also appears in creole communities in the Carolinas. Stick-licking was originally practiced by the island’s black males for self-defense and sport….
Barbados stick-licking uses a single stick. The sticks are made from shrubs rather than trees; common species include guava (Psidium spp.) and black sage (Lantana spp.). The fighting stick measures 38–40 inches (about a meter) in length and is an inch (2.5 centimeters) in diameter at the handle, tapering away toward the tip. The practice stick used is much smaller, more like a thick switch than like a baton….
Stick-licking went into decline in the 1940s, concurrently with the decline of Crop Over. Today, stick-licking exists as a form of cultural heritage with exhibitions staged in conjunction with a commercial Crop Over that was consciously modeled after the Trinidad Carnival. Although a small number of stick-fighters teach publicly, the art still has a culture of secrecy that probably dates to colonial times.”
-Earl White, Caribbean Martial Arts from Martial Arts of the World An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation, Vol 1
