Bois

Description

Stick fighting in Trinidad and Tobago dates back to the late 1700s, when it was brought to the island by enslaved Africans from the Congo and Angola: Stick fighting, also known as Kalenda,or simply Bois is a dance-like martial art that originated as a ritual for enslaved men to duel with sticks in rings called gayelles. The sticks were typically made from trees like the yellow Poui tree and were about 3.5 to 4 feet long and 1 inch in diameter. The art is also called “Creole wood”, “Bois”, and “Bataille Bois”, and is performed by men only.In TT there are two types of stickfighting tradition: kalinda and gatka. Kalinda is based on martial traditions that can be found in Central and West Africa and also among the Oromo people of Ethiopia.Gatka is a combat training style developed by Sikhs and brought to Trinidad. An important part of the gayelle is the music. The chantwell leads the call and response lavway.