New Item in Knobkerrie Collection Ndebele Tribe

[Nutellakinesis]

Originally Posted by milandro

Pardon Me but is this a knobkerrie at all?


I have had a couple of these and I have seen them described as " Talking Sticks"


A search for talking stick Ndebele reveals several of these items for sale on line, all of which seem to have the function of being used in a conference of a group of people to be passed to the speaker, which , to me, doesn't seem to have a common origin with a weapon. But maybe you can clarify it for me.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/23/p...ntv/index.html

They evolved from common clubs. A knobkerrie is simply a ball (knob or’ knop’ in Afrikaa) and Kerrie which derived from the word from the word from walking stick. There is a very long history of them being used as status symbols. In fact, most of the ornate and decorated knobkerries with wire work likely were never meant to be used in combat.

As far as I am aware, there is no formal distinction of what classifies as a Knobkerrie and a talking stick. Their primary purpose is cultural and ceremonial but still evolved from clubs, which are the most basic form of weaponry.

It’s kind of like owning a decorative sword. Was it meant for combat? No, but it’s still a “sword”.