Grass Skirt + 2 Wooden Sticks = Cool!

I believe if i told most of you in Semester 1 that capoeira - an afro-brazilian martial art-form created to simulate a fight-like dance; a dance-like fight, involved putting on grass skirts and banging 2 short wooden sticks together, i would understand if you kindly suggest i register myself into IMH.

That's right, i think its about time i brought up Maculele (pronounced ma-kœ-lay-lay) "the dance of the sticks" since we have the good fortune of learning it from our seniors and some of us will even be performing it for the public's appreciation :)

Here's one of the many (and my favourite) legends behind Maculele:

The story is that of a village whose people went to hunt and left a single boy to protect the children and women. A neighboring tribe attacked the village, and the boy (along with divine aid from a warrior-god) picked up two sticks on the ground and ran around with so much energy and bravery that he chased away all the attackers. When the hunters returned he became a big hero and they created the dance of Maculele in honor of his bravery and spirit.

Therefore, the moral of the story is...Maculele is likewise a dance-like fight and a fight-like dance and likewise Maculele should be performed with the similar zeal and zest one experiences in a Roda

And if some lay-man tells you its the dance where we hop over long bamboo sticks, tell him to shove it up...........

axe meu camaradas

Bryan