Ethiopian Prayer Staff with Finial, Based

Six feet of bamboo and a polished knob. Ethiopians have leaned on such things for long services and longer roads.

Staffs have long been carried in Ethiopia by clergy, elders and the faithful, lending support through lengthy services and on journeys to holy sites. This prayer staff, made in the early 20th century of bamboo with an iron finial, has a slender, slightly undulating shaft with a warm reddish-brown finish and visible nodes. At the top, a polished spherical knob sits on a turned waisted collar. A small metal tip finishes the lower end.

Simple, and made with care. Lean on it, or lean it somewhere.