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| A pumpkin carved into a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween |
Children of our country often become acquainted with pumpkins and their relatives in the fall of the year‚ particularly during October and November. October brings Halloween, and since the pumpkin is a typical fruit of that time of the year it is used in all kinds of Halloween decorations. Many boys and girls think half the fun of Halloween is to have a real pumpkin in the window. Then comes Thanksgiving with its baked squashes and pumpkin pies, and gourds heaped high with autumn fruits.
Early settlers on our eastern shores were surprised to see that the Indians raised rows of corn and beans with pumpkins and squashes between. The Indians believed that these three vegetables were guarded by three sister spirits, and that the plants would not grow well alone. The pumpkins and squashes were prepared for food by baking in ashes‚ shell, seeds and all; by splitting, cleaning and boiling in water; or by cutting them into thin strips to be dried for winter food. The Indians also boiled squash flowers with meat to add to the flavor.
The word squash comes from an Algonquian word meaning eaten green, while the word pumpkin comes from an old Greek word meaning cooked by the sun. When the shell of a gourd, pumpkin or squash is made into a container it is sometimes called a calabash. This should not be confused with the true calabash which grows on a South American tree belonging to the Trumpet Flower family. The true calabash is in no way related to the pumpkin.
Gourds are first cousins of the pumpkins. The Indians and early settlers raised them for rattles, water bottles, dippers, cups and other household utensils. Today we find many surprising and interesting uses for gourds. In China they serve as winter homes for pet crickets which are cherished either because they sing or because they are good fighters. Some of the cricket gourds are decorated, and all have elaborately carved bone, ivory, wood or jade covers. The designs on the covers may be of flowers, dragons, lions or other animals.
In South America gourds, pumpkins and squashes were cultivated long before white men came to America. In very old Indian graves in Peru have been found vases shaped like squashes and pumpkins, and gourd containers holding peanuts. Gourds are still used in South America. Small ones are often used as containers for poison used in trying suspects of a crime. Guilt or innocence is determined by the effect of the poison on the suspect. The South American Indians who use the blow gun and poison darts keep the poison in small gourds attached to their quiver cases, while small oval gourds are highly decorated and used as cups for a popular South American drink called yerba mate‚ which really means, plant for the gourd.
Gourds are frequently used in the making of musical instruments. This is especially true in Africa where the natives love music and rhythm. They have gourd drums, rattles of small gourds fastened around the waist of a dancer, stringed musical instruments made of gourds to which long handles are attached, musical bows with gourd resonators, and most important, the marimba. This instrument is really a xylophone with thin pieces of wood, often elaborately carved at the ends, suspended by cords over a series of gourds of different sizes. The gourds help to make the music louder. Some of the marimbas are so large it takes two men to play them.
In certain parts of Africa water pipes are made of horn with small gourds for holding the tobacco; in other parts certain tribes cover their long necked gourds with beautiful bead work. Gourds are raised by most indigenous peoples. The shapes can be made to suit any use by binding with string or placing weights on the growing gourds. Thus, Romeo has bottle-shaped gourds for the Pipes of Pan; Melanesia, tiny gourds for lime, used in betel-nut chewing; and the Philippines, large gourds for storing rice and other cereals. These gourds may be plain, or the surfaces may be carved, burned with delicate strokes, painted or highly polished. Mexicans are noted for their brightly colored gourds.
Though the children of foreign countries may not know the joys of jack-o‚-lanterns and pumpkin pies, they do know those very important relatives, the gourds. Whipple.
Learn more about pumpkins and squash and how to craft with these too!
Pumpkins, Squash and Gourds
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