walking stick

For the insect, see Phasmatodea.

A walking stick is a device used by many people to facilitate balancing whilst walking. It may be used as a defensive or offensive weapon, and may conceal a knife or sword as in a swordstick. Walking sticks come in many shapes and sizes, leading to their being collected. Some kinds of walking stick may be used by the handicapped as a crutch.

Walking sticks, also called trekking poles, pilgrim's staffs, hiking poles or hiking sticks, are used by hikers for a wide variety of purposes: to clear spiderwebs, part thick bushes or grass obscuring the trail; as a support when going uphill or a brake when going downhill; as a balance point when crossing streams, swamps or other rough terrain; to feel for obstacles in the path; to test mud and puddles for depth; and as a defense against wild animals. A walking stick can be improvised from nearby felled wood. More ornate sticks are made for avid hikers, and are often adorned with small trinkets or medallions depicting "conquered" territory.

Origin

Around the 17th or 18th century, a stout rigid stick took over from the sword as an essential part of the European gentleman's wardrobe, used primarily as a walking stick. In addition to its value as a decorative accessory, it also continued to fulfill some of the function of the sword as a weapon. The standard cane was rattan with a rounded metal grip.^{[citation needed]} The clouded cane, as in the quotation below, was made of Malacca and showed the patina of age:

Some canes had specially weighted metalwork. Other types of wood, such as hickory, are equally suitable.

Accessories

• The most common accessory, before or after purchase or manufacture, is a hand strap, to prevent loss of the stick should the hand release its grip. These are often threaded through a hole drilled into the stick rather than tied around.
• A clip-on frame or similar device can be used to stand a stick against the top of a table.
• In cold climates, a metallic cleat may be added to the foot of the cane. This dramatically increases traction on ice. The device is usually designed so it can be easily flipped to the side to prevent damage to indoor flooring.
• Different handles are available to match grips of varying sizes.
• Rubber ferrules give extra traction on most surfaces.
• Nordic walking (ski walking) poles are extremely popular in Europe. Walking with two poles in the correct length radically reduces the stress to the knees, hips and back. These special poles come with straps resembling a fingerless glove, durable metal tips for off-road and removable rubber tips for pavement and other hard surfaces.

Ecclesiastical use

Orthodox protodeacon holding a walking stick. Portrait by Ilya Repin, 1877 (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow).

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some of the Oriental Orthodox Churches an ecclesiastical walking stick is used by bishops, archimandrites and hegumens (abbots) when walking outside. It is usually made of dark wood and is straight, rather than having a curved handle. The walking stick used by bishops and archimandrites is normally adorned with a silver grip at the top and a metal ferrule at the tip. The walking stick used by an hegumen or hegumenia (abbess) is normally of plain wood, unadorned.

The walking stick is not used in any liturgical context, except to the extent that when a bishop is formally received at the beginning of the service, he will carry it as he walks into the church. An altar server will usually take it from him when he enters the narthex and return it to him when he leaves at the end of the service.^{[citation needed]}

Types of walking stick

Ashplant — an Irish walking stick made from the ash tree

Devil's walking stick — Made from Hercules plant.

Shooting stick — It can fold out into a single-legged seat.

Supplejack — Made from a tropical American vine, also serves as a cane.

Penang lawyer — Made from Asian Palm.

Makila (or makhila) — Basque walking stick or Staff

Kebbie — Scottish walking stick

Whangee — Asian, made of bamboo, also a riding crop.

Malacca — Malay stick made of Palm.

Pike Staff — Pointed at the end for slippery surfaces.

Waddy — Australian walking stick or club.

American "walking canes"

In North America, a walking cane is a walking stick with a curved top much like a shepherd's staff, but shorter. Thus, although they are called "canes," they are usually made of material heavier than cane, such as wood or metal.

In the United States, presidents have often carried canes and received them as gifts.^{[citation needed]} The Smithsonian has a cane given to George Washington by Ben Franklin. It features a gold handle in the shape of a Phrygian cap. In our time, walking sticks are usually only seen with formal attire. Collectors of canes look for the old, the new and the novel. Retractable canes that reveal such properties as hidden compartments, pool sticks, or blades are popular among collectors. Handles have been made from many substances, both natural and manmade. Carved and decorated canes have turned the functional into the fantastic.

An unidentified woman holding a "tippling cane" or "cane flask" in Washington, DC., 1922.

The idea of a fancy cane as a fashion accessory to go with top hat and tails has been popularized in many song-and-dance acts, especially by Fred Astaire in several of his films and in the song "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails".

Some canes, known as "Tippling Canes," or "Tipplers," have hollowed-out compartments near the top where flasks or vials of alcohol could be hidden and sprung out on demand.

When used as a mobility or stability aide, canes are generally used in the hand opposite the injury or weakness. This may appear counter-intuitive, but this allows the cane to be used for stability in a way that lets the user shift much of their weight onto the cane and away from their weaker side as they walk. Personal preference, or a need to hold the cane in their dominant hand, means some cane users choose to hold the cane on their injured side.

In a violent episode in the U.S. Congress, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts called Stephen Douglas of Illinois a "noisesome squat and nameless animal" and brutally insulted Andrew Butler of South Carolina for a congenital deformity. When a relative of Andrew Butler, Preston Brooks, heard of it, he felt that Sumner's behavior merited less than a duel and so beat him senseless on the floor of the Senate with a wooden walking cane.^[1] Although this event is commonly known as "the caning of Senator Charles Sumner", it was not a caning in the normal (esp. British) sense of formal corporal punishment with a much more flexible and usually thinner rattan.

See also

• Cane (crutch)
• Nordic walking
• Trekking pole
• Danda
• Swordstick
• Pace stick
• Shillelagh (club)

External links

• Walking-Stick Papers (Robert Cortes Holliday, 1918) – Project Gutenberg ebook
• Self-Defence with a Walking Stick (Pearson’s Magazine, January 1901)
• History of English Walking Sticks
• Suggested cane technique
• How to fit a walking stick to your height
• YouTube film of walking stick manufacture
• Nordic Walking Poles
• Information about the different handles

References

1. ^ The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner at United States Senate history page.