Baranta

Not sure about where all the techniques and combat theories in the modern Hungarian art of Baranta come from but at least we can see some of the influence of the shepards stick in this video clip.

Austria: Containing a Description of the Manners, Customs, Character and Costumes of the People of that Empire 1828

 
Austria: Containing a Description of the Manners, Customs, Character and Costumes of the People of that Empire
By Frederic Shoberl
Published by C. S. Williams, 1828
The usual costume of the peasants of the Bukowina, consists of white or red trowsers, a shirt, the wide, open sleeves of which are embroidered at the wrist, and over that an [...]

The War in Hungary, 1848-1849 By Max Schlesinger

Any firearms peeping out of a carriage-window commonly sufficed to keep such fellows at a respectful distance, as the swineherd is never armed with any other weapon than his fokos. The fokos is a hatchet, with a long handle, which the Kanasz hurls with great dexterity. Whenever he desires to pick out and slaughter one [...]

Bleiknopf peitsche

Adventures and Anecdotes of the South Army of the Emperor of Austria, During the Late Hungarian Campaign: Narrated by Eye-witnesses
By John William Warre Tyndale
Published by R. Bentley, 1850
He was no less famous as a marksman than as a
rider, and his ” poor fellows” were equally well
trained ; but, besides fire-arms, they had their
Fokos and the [...]

Unknown Hungary By Victor Tissot 1881

If the Kanasz possesses a hut made out of branches, the brigand becomes his companion for the night. His relations with refugees and vagabonds of the forest are the result of circumstances ; he is their spy, their sentinel. In return for his services the brigands respect the animals he guards, and for which [...]

Nyírvasvári cigány botoló

Magyar pásztorbotoló 1974 Shepherd stick dance

Pickaroon to Fokos

My good friend Randal gave me a great logging tool called a pickaroon made by Peavey Manufacturing this summer that I modified just slightly as far as the handle profile to make it more fokos-like. This particular model is called a Katahdin w/Brush Cutter Head. It can be seen here: Peavey Manufacturing. Nice curved spike [...]

Hungary and Transylvania John Paget 1850

The hatchet-headed walking-sticks were then put in requisition — I do not know whether I have mentioned before, that all the peasants of the north of Hungary carry sticks armed at the top with a small hatchet-head, which I had previously considered only as an ornament, or to be used in defence, but which were [...]

Axes and sheppard crooks

Peasant Art in Austria and Hungary By Charles Holme 1911
Their axe-headed
sticks, which also serve as weapons, are of engraved brass, or of
wood inlaid with brass, some of the work being beautifully executed.
Their textiles and wooden objects, which they ornament
with pierced or chip-carving, are particularly good.