Flail
A flail is an agricultural tool used for threshing, the process of separating grains from their husks. It is usually made from two or more large sticks attached by a short chain; one stick is held and swung, causing the other (the swipple) to strike a pile of grain, loosening the husks. The precise dimensions and shape of flails were determined by generations of farmers to suit the particular grain they were harvesting. For example, flails used by farmers in Quebec to process wheat were generally made from two pieces of wood, the handle being about long by in diameter, and the second stick being about long by about in diameter, with a slight taper towards the end. Flails for other grains, such as rice or spelt, would have had different dimensions. Flails have generally fallen into disuse in many nations because of the availability of technologies such as combine harvesters that require much less manual labour. But in many places, such as Minnesota, wild rice can only be ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nunchaku
is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person who has practiced using this weapon is referred to in Japanese as nunchakuka. The nunchaku is most widely used in martial arts such as Okinawan kobudō and karate. It is intended to be used as a training weapon, since practicing with it enables the development of quick hand movements and improves posture. Modern nunchaku may be made of metal, plastic or fiberglass instead of the traditional wood. Toy versions and replicas not intended to be used as weapons may be made of polystyrene foam or plastic. Possession of this weapon is illegal in some countries, except for use in professional martial arts schools. The origin of the nunchaku is unclear; a traditional explanation holds that it was originally used by Okinawan farmers as a flail fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jan Žižka
Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha ( en, John Zizka of Trocnov and the Chalice; 1360 – 11 October 1424) was a Czech general – a contemporary and follower of Jan Hus and a Radical Hussite who led the Taborites. Žižka was a successful military leader and is now a Czech national hero. He was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka", having lost one and then both eyes. Jan Žižka led Hussite forces against three crusades and never lost a single battle despite being completely blind in his last stages of life. He was born in the small village of Trocnov in the Kingdom of Bohemia into a family from the Czech nobility. According to Piccolomini's ''Historia Bohemica'', he had some connections with the royal court from his youth, and later held the office of Chamberlain to Queen Sofia of Bavaria. He fought in the Battle of Grunwald (15 July 1410), where he defended Radzyń against the Teutonic Order. Later he played a prominent role in the civil wars in Bohemia. He led the Hussites dur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gohei
, , or are wooden wands, decorated with two (zigzagging paper streamers) used in Shinto rituals. The streamers are usually white, although they can also be gold, silver, or a mixture of several colors, and are often attached as decorations to straw ropes () used to mark sacred precincts. The shrine priest or attendants () use the to bless or sanctify a person or object in various Shinto rituals. The is used for some ceremonies, but its usual purpose is to cleanse a sacred place in temples and to cleanse, bless, or exorcise any object that is thought to have negative energy. In addition to its use in purification rituals, it may be included in an (wooden wand with many ), and serve as the object of veneration () in a Shinto shrine. See also * Flail * Glossary of Shinto for an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Shinto, Shinto art, and Shinto shrine architecture. * , wooden wands used in Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of J ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ōnusa
An or simply is a wooden wand traditionally used in Shinto purification rituals. are decorated with a number of (paper streamers). When the are attached to a hexagonal or octagonal staff, the wand is also known as a . See also * Flail * Glossary of Shinto This is the glossary of Shinto, including major terms on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk (*) are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galleries. __NOTOC__ A * – A red papier-mâché cow bobblehead toy; a kind of ''engimo ... * * * * * References * ''Encyclopedia of Shinto''"Ōnusa" accessed on March 29, 2009. Ceremonial weapons Exorcism in Shinto Honorary weapons Ritual weapons Shinto cult objects Shinto in Japan Wands {{Shinto-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. The history of agriculture began thousands of years ago. After gathering wild grains beginning at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers began to plant them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs and cattle were domesticated over 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture in the twentieth century came to dominate agricultural output, though about 2 billion people still depended on subsistence agriculture. The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials (such as rubber). Food classes include cereals ( grains), vegetables, fruits, cooking oils, m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ritual Weapons
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance. Rituals are a feature of all known human societies. They include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and ritual purification, purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals and more. Even common actions like handshake, hand-shaking and saying "hello" may be termed as ''rituals''. The field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term. One given by Kyriakidis is that a ritual is an outsider's or "Emic and etic, etic" category for a set activity (o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wands
A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, ivory, or metal. Wand or magic wand may also refer to: People *Günter Wand, a German orchestra conductor and composer *Hart Wand, an early white American blues musician and composer from Oklahoma City *John W C Wand, an Anglican archbishop of Brisbane, Australia * Seth Wand, an American football offensive tackle *Walter Rudi Wand, a German judge *Wand Bewossen, a military figure in Ethiopian history *Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist Music * Wand (band), an American psychedelic rock band *Wands (band), a 3-member Japanese rock music group * Wand Records, a record company *" The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)," a song by The Flaming Lips * Magic Wands (band), a band from Los Angeles, CA Media *WAND (TV), an NBC affiliate in Decatur, Illinois *Magic Wand (software), a word-processing program for CP/M-based computers first released in 1979 * Nyko Wand, a 3rd-party alternative to the Wii Remote * Magic W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mechanical Hand Tools
Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic * Mechanical energy, the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy * Mechanical system, a system that manages the power of forces and movements to accomplish a task * Mechanism (engineering), a portion of a mechanical device Other * Mechanical (character), one of several characters in Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' * A kind of typeface in the VOX-ATypI classification See also * Machine, especially in opposition to an electronic item * ''Mechanical Animals'', the third full-length studio release by Marilyn Manson * Manufactured or artificial, especially in opposition to a biological or natural component * Automation, using machine decisions and processing instead of human * Mechanization, using machine labor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Threshing Tools
Threshing, or thrashing, is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History of threshing Through much of the history of agriculture, threshing was time-consuming and usually laborious, with a bushel of wheat taking about an hour. In the late 18th century, before threshing was mechanized, about one-quarter of agricultural labor was devoted to it. It is likely that in the earliest days of agriculture the little grain that was raised was shelled by hand, but as the quantity increased the grain was probably beaten out with a stick, or the sheaf beaten upon the ground. An improvement on this, as the quantity further increased, was the practice of the ancient Egyptians of spreading out the loosened sheaves on a circular enclosure of hard ground, and driving oxen, sheep or other animals round and round over it so as t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Egyptian Artefact Types
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of recorded history ** Egyptian cuisine, the local culinary traditions of Egypt * Egypt, the modern country in northeastern Africa ** Egyptian Arabic, the language spoken in contemporary Egypt ** A citizen of Egypt; see Demographics of Egypt * Ancient Egypt, a civilization from c. 3200 BC to 343 BC ** Ancient Egyptians, ethnic people of ancient Egypt ** Ancient Egyptian architecture, the architectural structure style ** Ancient Egyptian cuisine, the cuisine of ancient Egypt ** Egyptian language, the oldest known language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family * Copts, the ethnic Egyptian Christian minority ** Coptic language or Coptic Egyptian, the latest stage of the Egyptian language, spoken in Egypt until the 17th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crook And Flail
The crook and flail (''heka'' and ''nekhakha'') were symbols used in ancient Egyptian society. They were originally the attributes of the deity Osiris that became insignia of pharaonic authority. The shepherd's crook stood for kingship and the flail for the fertility of the land. The earliest known example of a crook is from the Gerzeh culture (Naqada II), and comes from tomb U547 in Abydos . By late Predynastic times, the shepherd's crook was already an established symbol of rule. The flail initially remained separate, being depicted alone in some earliest representations of royal ceremonial. Approximately by the time of the Second Dynasty the crook and flail became paired. The only extant pharaonic examples of both the crook and flail come from the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Their staffs are made of heavy bronze covered with alternating stripes of blue glass, obsidian, and gold, while the flail's beads are made of gilded wood. Theories on significance Traditionally cross ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |