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 divided into segments by two square carved knobs, one just below the point and another halfway down the remaining length. This middle portion is decorated with double longitudinal rows of small anvil shaped motifs on a background of black pigment. Midway between the two knobs is a small pinwheel motif. 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.