--- In bata@yahoogroups.com, "appletreeworm" <appletreeworm@...> wrote:

> Hey Tony,
>
> Thanks for the link. I thought it was quite interesting- it
> certainly eased my curiosity about what stick fighting looked like, I
> guess I just thought it was faster, more bloody. Are there any sites
> you can refer me to that show ancient fighting techniques? What ive
> seen so far seem farely recent. a million thanks again!

Hi Alisha,

actual faction fights were, by all reports, fast and bloody affairs;
the modern practice of Irish stick fighting is generally geared
towards relatively safe recreation, often using modern safety
equipment and so-on.

I'm no expert on any of this, let alone the ancient Irish material,
but would note that generally the further back into history you go,
the less detailed and reliable the sources become. We're lucky to
have just enough detailed, written sources on Irish stick fighting
from the 1800s that people are able to reconstruct a generic style
inspired by those sources.

The oldest Irish martial arts-related material I'm aware of would be
the list of "warrior feats" performed by the hero Cuchullain, but
that's more-or-less entering the realm of mythology, so any
reconstructions tend to be speculative.

Cheers,

Tony