page_title: Rattan
section_title: Weaponry
hierarchical_section_title: Rattan / Uses / Weaponry
caption_attribution_description: English: Plate 6 -- Spears used ceremonially and in war; shafts ornamented and figured with brass and silver overlay. No. 1. Cane shaft, rough-surfaced iron blade of good form. Moro. 2. Elliptic spearhead of iron with socket. Igorot, Luzon. 3. Bilaterally barbed iron spearhead with socket. Luzon. 4. Brass pike head: Two mythical bird figures supporting blade. Blade and socket engraved with geometric figures. Moro. 5. Fine workmanship in iron shown in deeply grooved and socketed spearhead; shaft ferruled with figured silver. Shaft is tasseled and capped with a spud of carabao horn at base. Moro, Mindanao. 6. Head of fine ironwork, deeply grooved and provided with median ridge. Ferrule of brass, collar cord and tassel, rattan shaft capped with spike at basal end, Moro. 7-8. Steel blades, shafts of palmwood wrapped with brass wire: Figured brass ferrule, Bagobo, southeastern Mindanao. 9. Long Iron blade, iron ferrule at neck; handed rings of rattan on shaft, tassel cord. Moro, Mindanao. 10. Blade of iron, thickened at distal end and tapering toward shaft, hardwood shaft ferruled with rattan and punched with brass rivets. Northern Luzon. 11. Short and broad iron spearhead fastened to rattan shaft by iron tang. Looped cord attached to neck of blade and to foreshaft of hardwood. Moro, Mindanao. 12. Finely wrought-iron spearhead; brass ferrule and iron shaft socket; hardwood shaft wound with spirals of figured brass and sheathed with alternating brass and silver hands. Bagobo, Mindanao. Other images on Filipino weapons by the same uploader are here: (a) Luzon weapons; (b) Visayan weapons; (c) Moro weapons; and (d) Lumad (non-Moro Mindanao) weapons
context_page_description: Rattan is the name for roughly 600 species of old world climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. Rattan is also known as manila, or malacca, named after the ports of shipment Manila and Malacca City, and as manau. The climbing habit is associated with the characteristics of its flexible woody stem, derived typically from a secondary growth, makes rattan a liana rather than a true wood.
context_section_description: Fire-hardened rattan were commonly used as the shafts of Philippine spears collectively known as sibat. They were fitted with a variety of iron spearheads and ranged from short throwing versions to heavy thrusting weapons. They were used for hunting, fishing, or warfare (both land and naval warfare). The rattan shafts of war spears are usually elaborately ornamented with carvings and metal inlays. Arnis also makes prominent use of rattan as "arnis sticks", commonly called yantok or baston. Their durability and weight makes it ideal for training with complex execution of techniques as well as being a choice of weapon, even against bladed objects.
  It sees also prominent use in battle re-enactments as stand-ins to potentially lethal weapons.
  Rattan can also be used to build a functional sword that delivers a non-lethal but similar impact compared to steel counterparts.
caption: Sibat spears from the Philippines
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