Evolution of The Devil Stick:
Some modern devil sticks have soft ends for safety and a different style of play - although it is actually quite possible to knock oneself unconscious with some of the faster, harder, heavier 'unpadded' batons.
These are often colorfully decorated and are known variously under such brand names as Quick Stix, Crystal Stix, Hippie Sticks, Mixstix, LunaStix, Equilibristicks, Trick Sticks, juggling sticks, Stunt Sticks and many other names. Despite the plethora of names, stick twirlers often call them simply 'sticks'.
As new materials and construction techniques become available, resourceful jugglers and craftspersons have advanced the design of the 'modern devilstick', making them more durable, more portable, or having physical properties that enable jugglers to perform feats previously deemed impossible or too difficult to accomplish. It is a widely held belief that 'sticks' will continue to advance as construction techniques and materials become more advanced or as materials become more widely available. An example of an advance is stix on which the ends can be lit on fire, often referred to as "fire spinning".
The History of Devil Sticks:
Juggling Sticks have continuously evolved as they were passed down through the centuries.
Apparently originating in Africa earlier than 3000 B.C.E., there are pictures of juggling sticks on friezes found in Egyptian tombs. Juggling historians have asserted that the 'devil sticks' followed the Silk Road from Cairo to China.
Whether they were reinvented in, or travelled to, China, there is no doubt that by 2000 B.C.E. the Chinese were using juggling sticks. It is commonly believed that Marco Polo then brought juggling sticks to Europe from the Orient. Juggling sticks have been used in Europe since the Renaissance.
With the hippie phenomenon, the advent of huge outdoor music festivals, the invention of modern variants on stick design, and the post-sixties increase in popularity of juggling as recreation or as a hobby, stick juggling has become increasingly popular as an activity even among people who would not consider themselves to be 'performers'.
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