Stick Fighting in Moruga (The Carnival Edition)

Kalinda, better know as stick fighting is a dance-like martial art brought to the Caribbean slave plantations from the Congo and Angola fought with a specially-crafted and spiritually-prepared stick or ‘bois’ (bwah) of about 4 feet in length. One lineage which transitioned from Africa still resides in the village of Moruga, with its own special history and style of stick fighting.

Historically, the battles are fought in a circular outdoor arena called a ‘gayelle’ equipped with a specially assigned ‘blood hole’ where badly injured men or women would go to literally bleed their wounds. The Kalinda is always accompanied by the rhythms of African drums. The lead singer or ‘chantuelle’ (shant-well) would engage the crowd in high energy songs that charged the space and spirits of the fighters.