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Subject: "Plenty of Stickfighting" This topic is locked.
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Solarus
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Fri Aug-30-02 06:18 AM

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95. "Plenty of Stickfighting"
In response to In response to 94


  

          

There was and still is stickfighting all throughout the Americas.

In Trinidad it is a national event during carnival. My roommate says his uncle was a stickfighting champion as a child. (Of course he doesn´t know how to )

See this article from here http://209.94.197.2/feb99/feb9/features.htm:

No challengers for Ras Munifa
story and photo by TREVOR BURNETT

HER husband once dared to step into the ring with her and she drew blood with one blow.
A woman who took the chance of challenging her also ended up with a bust head. Up to last Friday evening, another woman's brother-in-law begged for her after the woman almost rushed in where angels fear to tread.


That's the kind of reputation female stickfighter Ras Munifa has earned herself-and that's why she remains unchallenged for her stickfight crown this Carnival.


Ras Munifa was christened Ucil Munifa Benjamin. She hails from Cleaver Woods, D'Abadie.


This Carnival, Ras Munifa has sent out an open challenge to any woman to step into the gayelle with her. The 34-year-old stickfighter was born in the village of Erin. Her father, Eugene Benjamin, was also a stickfighter who ironically tried to discourage his children from stickfighting.


Ras Munifa explained: "It was not until we moved to Talparo at the age of 17 that I became actively involved in stickfighting through King Frederick and his family.


"As straightforward as it sounds, stickfighting requires a lot of technique," she said.


"First your wood or bois must be sturdy, cut in the right moon and well-balanced.


"Your choice of songs with the drummers must set you in the right mood for your dancing feet when 'karraying'.



Ras Munifa, the champion female stickfighter, goes through her shadow training with calypsonian Scrunter outside her Cleaver Woods, D'Abadie home.


"Then there is the wrist movement for the execution of the shots and the setting up of an opponent by duping him into flaws and countering swiftly.


"I shadow-train hard and have no friends in the gayelle, because the old rule is, 'if yuh cyah play, doh play'.


"Some years ago I remembered my then common-law husband, Waldron 'Beta Boy' Fredericks, opposed me because women wouldn't fight me and I 'bust' his head with a clean blow," she recalled.
Ras Munifa has fought in gayelles all over Trinidad and Tobago, but usually in exhibition bouts with men because women bluntly refuse to fight with her.


The last stickfight she had with a woman was in Point Fortin in 1991.


"It was a Friday evening," she says, "passing through Point with some friends when we heard a commotion outside a shop.


"There was a woman gallerying with a stick in a gayelle with $250 on the ground. I called the drummers for my stickfight song, 'Gayelle, Gin-Gin', made my challenge and set up the woman, feinting to the left, then feinting to the right. And as she was open, I surprised her by pulling my bois behind her head, busting her head and the fight was over.


"Last Friday night in Dinsley Junction, Tacarigua, I almost got a fight.


"On my arrival, there was this woman gallerying with a bois and suddenly she bend down and take up the money in the gayelle and put it in her bosom.


"I stopped her dead in her tracks and told her 'woman, yuh don't pick up money in the gayelle without busting my head'...and the gayelle got hot.


"A man came to me and apologised on her behalf, claiming to be her brother-in-law and told me she was drunk," Ras Munifa said.


Ras Munifa will be on exhibition at the Arima Priority Mall gayelle at the national stickfighting championships tomorrow night. On Saturday, she will also be present for the open gayelle at Scrunter's Forest in Sangre Grande from 10 a.m.

*********************

another one http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Places/places_East-Port-of-Spain_history.htm:

____________________________
"the real pyramids were built with such precision that you can't slide a piece of paper between two 4,000 lb stones, and have shafts perfectly aligned so that you can see a tiny aperture through dozens of these mammoth blocks

  

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Panama: Mi Comentario [View all] , Solarus, Mon Aug-05-02 02:42 PM
 
Subject Author Message Date ID
El Vuelo Largo
Aug 05th 2002
1
Aug 05th 2002
2
muy interesante...
Aug 05th 2002
3
^up
Aug 06th 2002
4
RE: Panama: Mi Comentario
Aug 06th 2002
5
where in panama?
Aug 06th 2002
6
      RE: where in panama?
Aug 07th 2002
15
           RE: where in panama?
Aug 07th 2002
19
                RE: where in panama?
Aug 07th 2002
21
                     definitely go
Aug 07th 2002
22
The Latinization of Afrikens
Aug 06th 2002
7
RE: The Latinization of Afrikens
Aug 06th 2002
9
      RE: The Latinization of Afrikens
Aug 06th 2002
10
           RE: The Latinization of Afrikens
Aug 06th 2002
11
                RE: The Latinization of Afrikens
Aug 07th 2002
14
                     RE: The Latinization of Afrikens
Aug 08th 2002
28
good stuff
Aug 06th 2002
8
RE: Panama: Mi Comentario
Aug 06th 2002
12
excuse me...
Aug 07th 2002
13
Aug 07th 2002
16
RE:no wonder
Aug 07th 2002
17
dreds
Aug 07th 2002
20
it's interesting
Aug 07th 2002
25
Aug 08th 2002
34
      straight out
Aug 09th 2002
36
RE: Panama: Mi Comentario
Aug 07th 2002
18
whats your avatar?
Aug 07th 2002
23
RE: whats your avatar?
Aug 07th 2002
24
Aug 08th 2002
26
repression everywhere...
Aug 08th 2002
27
Yes they are
Aug 08th 2002
30
Thank you
Aug 08th 2002
29
YEs
Aug 08th 2002
31
      Keep It Up
Aug 08th 2002
32
shits crazy...who knew..also
Aug 08th 2002
33
La Musica?
Aug 08th 2002
35
tipico
Aug 09th 2002
37
Are they more into Merengue?
Aug 09th 2002
38
      a LOT of reggaespanol
Aug 09th 2002
39
           RE: a LOT of reggaespanol
Aug 16th 2002
44
                RE: a LOT of reggaespanol
Sep 16th 2002
133
RE: La Musica?
Sep 16th 2002
137
Aug 10th 2002
40
Aug 12th 2002
41
Aug 16th 2002
45
El Universidad pobre de Panama
Aug 20th 2002
56
Word?..Jamaiaca has it's issues too man...
Aug 17th 2002
48
      RE: Word?..Jamaiaca has it's issues too man...
Aug 17th 2002
49
Aug 16th 2002
42
Indios
Aug 16th 2002
43
Los Indios
Aug 19th 2002
51
      RE: Los Indios
Sep 09th 2002
118
Ain't nobody forgettin' you
Aug 17th 2002
47
      figure of speech
Aug 19th 2002
52
           misconceptions........
Aug 20th 2002
54
           misconceptions II
Sep 16th 2002
132
RE: Panama: Mi Comentario
Aug 16th 2002
46
Espero que tu tengas un buen viaje!
Aug 17th 2002
50
wait....
Aug 19th 2002
53
I met
Aug 20th 2002
55
Brewster's in Panama
Aug 20th 2002
57
Mas despacio, por favor.
Aug 20th 2002
58
get music
Aug 20th 2002
59
oh yeah.
Aug 20th 2002
60
     
Aug 20th 2002
61
           one time
Aug 20th 2002
62
               
Aug 20th 2002
63
                my jaw dropped when i read that
Aug 20th 2002
66
                     mine too.
Aug 20th 2002
67
                     Yo...who went to newbirth?
Aug 20th 2002
74
                          I visited Newbirth in Atlanta
Sep 23rd 2002
145
                     they got one in portobelo
Aug 20th 2002
68
                     be glad
Aug 20th 2002
71
                          why would they do that?
Aug 20th 2002
72
                               they are
Aug 20th 2002
73
                     DAMN
Sep 23rd 2002
144
                General
Aug 20th 2002
65
RE: Mas despacio, por favor.
Aug 20th 2002
64
your guess is as
Aug 20th 2002
69
      RE: your guess is as
Aug 20th 2002
76
           Ahora
Aug 21st 2002
77
                Damm nice area
Aug 21st 2002
78
RE: Mas despacio, por favor.
Sep 09th 2002
119
how long are you there?
Aug 20th 2002
70
from July 30 to Sept 1
Aug 20th 2002
75
Hierbas y Cosas
Aug 23rd 2002
79
please god...
Aug 23rd 2002
80
Ah....sounds like Jamaica.
Aug 23rd 2002
81
      cerasse?
Aug 23rd 2002
82
           I used to think it was a sickly cactus as a kid
Aug 23rd 2002
83
                i swear
Aug 23rd 2002
84
                     Aloe
Aug 23rd 2002
85
Aug 26th 2002
86
overpasses for crossing streets
Aug 26th 2002
88
oh and the ac
Aug 26th 2002
89
Aug 26th 2002
87
of course not...
Aug 26th 2002
90
      JA has to be the most unsafe place of
Sep 10th 2002
120
           Yeah...if CAN be, but so can anywhere...you just gotta
Sep 10th 2002
122
                one we both Yankee's,
Sep 10th 2002
128
Aug 29th 2002
91
Como aprendes copoiera?
Aug 29th 2002
92
     
Aug 29th 2002
93
           cool....
Aug 30th 2002
94
               
                Damn...and here I thought Fencing and Capoiera is all
Aug 30th 2002
96
                     Fencing?
Aug 30th 2002
98
                          Damn...I thought is WAS moorish.
Aug 30th 2002
100
                               When did the moors
Aug 30th 2002
101
                               LOL!!!
Aug 30th 2002
102
                                    *shakes head*
Aug 30th 2002
103
                Handblocks
Aug 30th 2002
97
                     52 handblocks
Aug 30th 2002
99
Preguntas
Sep 03rd 2002
104
Black Activism in Latin America
Sep 03rd 2002
106
un momento por favor, Una mas pregunta
Sep 03rd 2002
105
Disregard question...Uta had it covered. My bad
Sep 03rd 2002
107
Sep 05th 2002
108
Mis Aventuras en Portobelo
Sep 06th 2002
109
LOL!
Sep 06th 2002
110
      A little bit
Sep 06th 2002
111
Mis Aventuras...
Sep 09th 2002
112
the dogs
Sep 09th 2002
113
what about the WOMEN ?
Sep 09th 2002
114
he can't talk
Sep 09th 2002
115
Actually I was going to mention
Sep 09th 2002
116
      so you didnt see one fine chica,
Sep 09th 2002
117
           By those standards
Sep 10th 2002
126
                ohok,
Sep 10th 2002
127
this shit is tight...I wish u could found out more abou
Sep 10th 2002
121
how could leaving his car?
Sep 10th 2002
123
      LOL .... cutlas=machete
Sep 10th 2002
124
THANX
Sep 10th 2002
125
Mis Aventuras...
Sep 11th 2002
129
viajo con dios /Allah :)
Sep 12th 2002
130
name 5 of those ways.
Sep 16th 2002
134
      A few things (Congos in Panama specifically)
Sep 16th 2002
135
           It's like every other country I go....I see the sameXXX
Sep 16th 2002
136
^
Sep 15th 2002
131
up
Sep 20th 2002
138
I plan to finish this
Sep 20th 2002
139
      in'sh allah
Sep 20th 2002
140
           And
Sep 20th 2002
141
                there's one archived, but
Sep 23rd 2002
142
                     Do you know of anyone
Sep 23rd 2002
143
up
Sep 24th 2002
146
Yayyyyyyy were cousins
Sep 24th 2002
147
Mi Reflecciones
Sep 27th 2002
148
Gringo
Oct 01st 2002
155
Please Archive
Sep 27th 2002
149
RE: Please Archive
Sep 27th 2002
150
Please archive
Oct 01st 2002
151
Dude,
Oct 01st 2002
152
      I DID!
Oct 01st 2002
153
           she's gone
Oct 01st 2002
154
                Since when%3F
Oct 01st 2002
156

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