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26-572: The county government was formerly located in Pu'an town, and has been in Xiasi town since 2000. Jianmen administers 27 towns and 2 townships: Towns Townships Jianmen's local specialties include Jianmen ham and Jianmenguang tofu. It's also known for the Jianmen cane . The local dialects, especially from Jinxian town, are notable for preserving the tones of old Sichuan dialects . This Sichuan location article

52-411: A crutch , but a walking cane is not designed for full weight support but used to help with balance. The walking stick has also historically been known to be used as a self-defense weapon , and may conceal a sword or knife. Hikers use walking sticks, also known as trekking poles , pilgrim's staffs , hiking poles, or hiking sticks, for a wide variety of purposes: as a support when going uphill or as

78-413: A social rank or a degree of social prestige. Apart from the ecclesiastical and ceremonial usages mentioned below, there are less formal usages. A gold - or silver -topped cane can express social standing (or dandyism ). Teachers or prefects in schools traditionally carried less elaborate canes which marked their right (and potential threat) to administer canings , and military officers carry

104-489: A French lady admirer when he was ambassador to France. Franklin wrote a codicil to his Will in 1789 bequeathing it to George Washington . It is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution . For use as a walking aid, it is usually recommended that the length of the stick should be such that the top of the handle reaches the wrist joint when standing up with arms hanging, wearing the footwear to be used with

130-694: A brake when going downhill; as a balance point when crossing streams, swamps, or other rough terrain; to feel for obstacles in the path; to test mud and water for depth; to enhance the cadence of striding, and as a defence against animals. An alpenstock , from its origins in mountaineering in the Alps , is equipped with a steel point and may carry a hook or ice axe on top. More ornate sticks may be adorned with small trinkets or medallions depicting visited territory. Wooden walking-sticks are used for outdoor sports, healthy upper-body exercise, and even club, department, and family memorials. They can be individually handcrafted from

156-427: A cane frequently. Some canes, known as "tippling canes" or "tipplers", have hollowed-out compartments near the top where flasks or vials of an alcoholic beverage can be hidden and sprung out on demand. When used as a mobility or stability aid, canes are generally used in the hand opposite the injury or weakness, allowing the cane to be used for stability in a way that lets the user shift much of their weight onto

182-502: A gold or silver rod on state occasions since 1522. In 1906 the other officers of arms were similarly each provided with a gold-mounted ebony baton, decorated with their individual badge of office; in 1953 these were replaced with white staves, topped with a blue dove within a gold coronet. On great occasions of state the Earl Marshal may appoint officers to assist in the marshalling of processions and other duties; they are provided with

208-526: A life free from fashionable nonsense, owned eighty sticks. Rousseau , a poor man and the apostle of the simple life, owned forty. Count Brühl , creator of the famous Brühl Terrace at Dresden, owned three hundred canes, each with a snuff-box to match, one for each of his three hundred suits. The fashion spread across the Atlantic to America. Benjamin Franklin had received as a gift a gold-headed walking stick from

234-603: A number of woods and may be personalised with wood carving or metal engraving plaques. A collector of walking sticks is termed a rabologist. Around the 17th or 18th century, a walking stick became an essential part of the European gentleman's wardrobe . The fashion may have originated with Louis XIV , who favored a walking stick, possibly because he wore high heels. As a curator of the Detroit Institute of Arts wrote about elaborate walking sticks in their collection: There

260-554: A residual threat of physical punishment in their swagger sticks . Orchestral conductors have in their batons symbols of authority as well as tools of their trade. Churchwardens (and sometimes sidesmen ) traditionally carry staves or wands on special occasions as an emblem of their office. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some of the Oriental Orthodox Churches an ecclesiastical walking stick

286-578: A rod or sceptre signifying their office, and field-marshals are traditionally given a short thick baton in several countries. There are also offices which take their titles from their staff, such as Black Rod , the Tipstaff , Gold Stick and Silver Stick . A thin white staff or "wand" is the traditional emblem of certain Great Officers of State and high-ranking officials of the Royal Household in

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312-531: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Walking stick A walking stick (also known as a walking cane , cane , walking staff , or staff ) is a device used primarily to aid walking , provide postural stability or support, or assist in maintaining a good posture . Some designs also serve as a fashion accessory , or are used for self-defense . Walking sticks come in many shapes and sizes and some have become collector's items . People with disabilities may use some kinds of walking sticks as

338-562: Is likewise invested with a white staff. Following the funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002, her Lord Chamberlain (the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres ) attended the private interment service and likewise broke his white staff in two over her coffin. The Earl Marshal and the Lord High Constable carry batons as their insignia when on duty, reflecting the military origins of those offices. Garter King-of-Arms has carried

364-457: Is not used in any liturgical context, except to the extent that when a bishop is formally received at the beginning of the service, he will carry it as he walks into the church. An altar server will usually take it from him when he enters the narthex and return it to him when he leaves at the end of the service. Western bishops may use a crozier or crook in a liturgical setting as a symbol of their pastoral authority. Monarchs often have

390-424: Is used by bishops , archimandrites and hegumens (abbots) when walking outside. It is usually made of dark wood and is straight, rather than having a curved handle. The walking stick used by bishops and archimandrites is normally adorned with a silver grip at the top and a metal ferrule at the tip. The walking stick used by a hegumen or hegumenia ( abbess ) is normally of plain wood, unadorned. The walking stick

416-689: The State Opening of Parliament (when the Lord Great Chamberlain raises his white staff to signal to the king's messenger, Black Rod, to summon the Commons). Apart from the Lord High Steward (an office which is only now filled for coronations), all the above-listed officials were seen carrying their white staves during the State funeral of Queen Elizabeth II . The Lord Chamberlain, as executive head of

442-527: The Tipstaff , Gold Stick and Silver Stick . In North America, a walking cane is a walking stick curved down at the top, not usually actually made of cane but of materials including wood, metal or carbon fiber. In modern times, walking sticks are usually only seen with formal attire. Retractable canes that reveal such properties as hidden compartments, pool sticks, or blades are popular among collectors. Handles have been made from many substances, both natural and manmade. Carved and decorated canes have turned

468-533: The "breaking of the stick", goes back many centuries (at one time all the officers of the Household who carried white staves would break them at this point and throw them into the grave, but since the 18th century the Lord Chamberlain alone has done so). The staff used to be physically broken, but in modern time it is jointed in the middle and the two halves can be separated. The Lords with White Staves (namely

494-555: The Lord Steward and Lord Chamberlain) are traditionally responsible for presenting addresses from the House of Lords to the Sovereign, and then delivering the Sovereign's response to the House. The Vice-Chamberlain of the Household today fulfils a similar role with regard to the House of Commons. A queen consort traditionally has a separate Household, headed by her own Lord Chamberlain, who

520-424: The Royal Household, ceremonially breaks his white staff at the monarch's state funeral , when he automatically loses office; it is then buried with the sovereign. This was publicly observed at the committal service of Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022 (the first time such a service had been filmed or televised), when the incumbent, Lord Parker of Minsmere , performed this duty. The ritual, sometimes referred to as

546-571: The United Kingdom, namely: Great Officers of State: Senior Officers of the Household: The "wand", which is around 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) in length, is made of white wood and has a silver plate at its base on which is engraved the name of the office to which it pertains. The wands are carried by their holders when on duty on state or other royal occasions, such as state banquets, jubilee services and royal weddings, as well as at

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572-553: The cane and away from their weaker side as they walk. Due to personal preference or a need to use the dominant hand some cane users hold the cane on their injured side. In the U.S. Congress in 1856, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts criticized Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina for the Kansas–Nebraska Act . When a relative of Andrew Butler, Preston Brooks , heard of it, he felt that Sumner's behavior demanded retaliation, and beat him senseless on

598-465: The floor of the Senate with a gutta-percha walking cane. Although this event is commonly known as " the caning of Senator Charles Sumner ", it was not a caning in the normal (especially British) sense of formal corporal punishment with a much more flexible and usually thinner rattan. Staff of office A staff of office is a staff, the carrying of which often denotes an official 's position,

624-459: The functional into the fantastic. The idea of a fancy cane as a fashion accessory to go with top hat and tails has been popularized in many song-and-dance acts, especially by Fred Astaire in several of his films and songs such as Top Hat, White Tie and Tails and Puttin' On the Ritz , where he exhorts, "Come, let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks or umbrellas in their mitts." He danced with

650-551: The stick. Sticks are rated according to the weight they can bear; this is not just a matter of the weight of the user, but depends upon whether the stick is used for light balance and support, or with a great deal of weight placed on the stick. Canes made of carbon fiber or aluminum are stronger than those of the same weight and made of other materials such as hardwood. Various staffs of office derived from walking sticks or staffs are used by both western and eastern Christian churches, and for ceremonial purposes, as by Black Rod ,

676-484: Was almost no limit to the sums which people were then willing to spend upon them. Louis XIV had a stick whose eagle knob was set with twenty-four diamonds. The Regent of France , one of the outstanding rakes of the century, had a huge and famous diamond called "the Regent" set as the head of a walking stick. People of fashion spent as much as forty thousand francs a year on walking sticks. Voltaire , who considered that he lived

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