stick-fight, noun

A traditional martial game among Black youths (in rural areas), involving two fighters, each wielding two sticks, the right-hand for attack and the left-hand for defence. See also fighting stick sense 1.
[1731 G. Medley tr. of P. Kolben’s Present State of Cape of G.H. I. 292They frequently exercise themselves in Mock-Fights. And at these Mock-Fights I have frequently beheld ’em with inexpressible Pleasure...These Disputes are chiefly maintain’d with Kirri-Sticks, Rackum-Sticks and Stones.]
1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. I. 159He and his comrade, the gentleman in the woollen shirt, executed a little stick fight for our edification, which was amusing.
1971 Daily Dispatch 11 May 11A stick fight..broke out at a circumcision party in Xobo Locations near here.
1979 Daily Dispatch 28 Feb. 3The editor..is lucky he wasn’t challenged to a stick fight.
1979 C. Endfield Zulu Dawn 37The headless hardwood assegai that he would use for this stick-fight.
1987 J. Jadi Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)A stick-fight is a game or exercise for boys before they go to initiation school. They use two sticks each, one for defence and one for attack...Stick-fights rarely take place in urban areas.
A traditional martial game among Black youths (in rural areas), involving two fighters, each wielding two sticks, the right-hand for attack and the left-hand for defence.
Derivatives:
Hence stick-fight  intransitive verb, stick-fighter  noun, stick-fighting  verbal noun; also attributive.
1903 Ilanga 9 Oct. 4Various games indulged in by the boys such as ‘Ubedu’.., stick-fighting with the ‘insema’, foot-racing and similar pastimes.
1972 Drum 8 Aug. 20As I see it, the Xhosas will romp home with all the gold medals for stick-fighting.
1979 C. Endfield Zulu Dawn 37All were certain that it would be a classic stick-fighting (in performance of which, as in knowledge, all Zulus excelled)...Though stick-fighting was regarded merely as training for truly mortal contest with the flat-bladed, stabbing assegai, as well as to test courage under duress of pain, at this level of skill and antagonism it could easily cripple, or damage permanently or, with some frequency, end fatally.
1987 J. Jadi Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)When big men stick-fight, they use one kierie each, and it is serious.
1988 F. Khashane in Pace June 154John Sepheko first showed his boxing ability as a stick-fighter.
1988 Learning Nation Vol.1 No.4, 1The main way that boys competed with one another was through stick-fighting...The fights were controlled by strict rules of conduct to ensure that no one was badly injured and that only youths of equal strength fought one another...Stick-fighting..helped to teach youth the values of courage, the importance of justice and respect for the rules.
1991 G. Silber Sunday Times 23 June (Mag. Sect.) 35A Xhosa stick-fighting song.
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17311991

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stick, nounn.stick-grass, nounn.
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