Macana is the name given to a weapon used in ancient times, this was a weapon used for defense against attacks received by an individual and was the culprit of many homicides many years ago; This weapon has the shape of a machete style, it was made of hard and heavy wood, on one of its sides it has an edge made of flint that produced serious cuts in individuals. This term has an etymological Taino origin, where it is mostly used to refer to thick massesmade from wood that were used by the warriors, these were from the peoples of Central and South America in pre-Columbian times; today it is also used to describe heavy clubs.
Some examples of the old macanas of which there is knowledge of their existence are: the one of Mexican origin called " macuahuitl ", this one had knives or obsidian blades buried in the sides of the mallet; On the other hand, there is the spear-type macana that was a tool of Inca origin, as well as other Andean peoples, this was made up of the characteristic cylinder of wood material and at the tip it had a sharp stone or any other hard structure, This accessory at one of its ends had a characteristic shape of a star in order to increase the effect of the blow, of course the wounds that were generated were extremely large and painful, being responsible then for muscle tears untilfractures, according to this became the favorite weapon of the soldiers in the Inca army.
Currently the word "macana" is used colloquially to refer to the elongated weapons that are used by the security guards in order to subdue an individual who causes a public disturbance, as well as in a vulgar sense it is applied to refer to the male erectile organ. In the list of synonyms for macana are: mace, stick, club, machete, truncheon, ax, lie, error, outrage or inconvenience.
