STICKFIGHTING
Stickfighting or kalinda is widely regarded as a sport with a folk element (accompanying dance and music)- to demonstrate the prowess and virility of the fighters who achieve a certain status in the village.
There is a certain notoriety attached to stickfighting which in earlier times was widespread, concentrated in Port- Of- Spain where there were numerous stickyards.
For years after emancipation, Africans celebrated the anniversary of their freedom on the first of August with a pageant which they called “ Cannes Brulées” (the cane-burning). Later on, this pageant became known as Canboulay and together with stickfighting came to be associated with the Carnival season.