Calinda (Kalinda) is a martial art, as well as kind of folk music and dance in the Caribbean which arose in the 1720s. Calinda is the French spelling, and the Spanish equivalent is calenda; it is a kind of stick-fighting commonly seen practiced during Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago.[1] There, Carnival songs are considered to be derived from calinda chants and "lavways".
Though it is more commonly practiced as a dance because of the violent outcome of stick fighting, its roots are still that of a martial art originating from Africa, and stick fights still occur in Trinidad. They also have been formalised into annual Carnival competitions.[2]
Kalenda is one name assigned to an Afro-Caribbean form of stick fighting as practiced in Haiti and entering the United States through the port city of New Orleans.[3] It is also practiced in other parts of the Caribbean, such as Martinique.[4]
The well-known Cajun song "Allons dancer Colinda" is about a Cajun boy asking a girl named Colinda to do a risqué dance with him; probably derived from the Calinda dance which was reported to have been performed in New Orleans by Afro-Caribbean slaves brought to Louisiana.
Similar forms of this martial art exist elsewhere in the Caribbean. For example, in Barbados it is commonly referred to as stick-licking or stick science. (See Bajan stick licking)