Love Stick

Wooden stick with squared-off cross-section. One end is a plain, unpainted handle, the other an unpainted point with nine shallow, rounded barbs. In between is a thinner portion that has been divided into segments by two square carved knobs, one about 4 cm. below the point and another about halfway down the remaining length. This middle portion is decorated with longitudinal rows of geometric patterns on a background of black pigment. Formerly used by a man when courting a woman. The stick, with its distinctive design, was shown to the woman. Then, at night, it was poked through the wall of the woman’s house to elicit her acceptance or rejection. An example of the “old style” of love stick, made for the collector by Isikar, in Wonip Village, Tol.