There will be a stick fighting display by the youth from the Makukhanye school in Jeffreys Bay at the Kouga Heritage Festival today 26 September.
Stick fighting is one of the respected African indigenous games and a 10-member group will be staging demonstrations and classes during the opening day today in Humansdorp.
The demonstrations will revolve around lessons such as holding the stick, holding the stick in a defensive form and using the stick on a special occasion.
Known as Africa’s own Martial Art stick fighting is historical and recreational,and in the Eastern Cape it dates back hundreds of years. It is included in many African rituals and ceremonies as an act of bravery and skill.
Although over the years stick fighting lost its popularity among the African cultural groups, the Eastern Cape Department of Sports , Recreation, Arts and Culture has been helping to revive it over the past five years. The department has managed to spread stick fighting across nine municipalities under the Sarah Bartmann District Municipality formerly known as Cacadu District.
The Kouga Heritage Festival starts today and ends Sunday, 28 September 28.
The venue for the Kouga Heritage Festival is the Kouga Cultural Centre in Humansdorp, which is at the entrance to the town from the N2, on the corner of Voortrekker road and Heugh roads.
Entrance is free.
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