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| How exactly the crooks have evolved in history is a hard nut to crack. There is no written proof of use, shapes, etc.. If we take the sticks in general we can go back to the stick Moses used to free the water from the mountain, in those days mostly used as a defensive weapon. In general we see that all over the world sticks are used for defensive actions. Without any doubt, sticks had more use than just that. You could use a stick for walking, climbing or hiking on rough terrains. As for the Shepherds there is not much difference. At first the stick or crook was used to defend the sheep and the shepherd. | |||||||||
| Later, when dogs have taken over the defensive tasks we see some changes to the sticks. First there is a sort of handle on top of the stick. The curve is used to catch the sheep or lambs at their necks. Later the curve can also be much smaller to able the catch at the sheep's behind legs. Even later there was a little nose on the end of the handle pointing outwards. The story tells that this was used by the shepherds to hang a lantern at night-time during the lambing period. Stick in the ground lantern on the hook.... maybe the predecessor of the lamp-post? | |
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| Nowadays these sticks are still made and used. Mainly we find stick makers in Great Brittan but also more and more on the continent. | |||||||||
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