Message Sticks
Carved wooden sticks that carry encoded messages between groups.
Message sticks are carved objects that carry information between distant peoples. The carvings encode messages that can only be fully understood with the accompanying oral information. They represent a form of writing that integrates with oral tradition.
The stick carries the words, but only the right person can read them.
Message sticks demonstrate sophisticated symbolic communication systems.
Oral Tradition
Written about in
- What Aboriginal tradition says about what to leave unsaid
The carved stick holds the message, but only a person carrying the accompanying oral knowledge can read it fully. The encoding is not secrecy for its own sake; it binds a message to the right courier.