Editing Calabash (section)

== Cultural uses ==

=== Africa ===
Hollowed-out and dried calabashes are a very typical utensil in households across West Africa. They are used to clean rice, carry water, and as food containers. Smaller sizes are used as bowls to drink [[palm wine]]. Calabashes are used in making the West African instruments like the [[Shekere|Ṣẹ̀kẹ̀rẹ̀]], a Yoruba instrument similar to a maraca, ''[[Kora (instrument)|kora]]'' (a [[harp-lute]]), ''[[xalam]]''/''ngoni'' (a lute) and the ''[[goje]]'' (a traditional fiddle). They also serve as resonators underneath the ''[[balafon]]'' (West African [[marimba]]). The calabash is also used in making the ''shegureh'' (a Sierra Leonean women's rattle)<ref>[http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/04.htm image at Joseph Opala] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518031713/http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/04.htm |date=18 May 2008 }}, "Origin of the Gullah", yale.edu.</ref> and ''balangi'' (a Sierra Leonean type of'' balafon'') musical instruments. Sometimes large calabashes are simply hollowed, dried and used as percussion instruments by striking them, especially by [[Fula people|Fulani]], [[Songhai people|Songhai]], [[Gur languages|Gur]]-speaking and [[Hausa people|Hausa]] peoples. In [[Nigeria]] the calabash has been used by some motorcyclists as an imitation helmet in an attempt to circumvent motorcycle helmet laws.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nigeria bikers' vegetable helmets |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7813418.stm |newspaper=[[BBC News]] |date=6 January 2009}}</ref> In [[South Africa]] it is commonly used as a drinking vessel and a vessel for carrying food by communities, such as the [[Bapedi]] and [[Zulus|AmaZulu]]. Erbore children of Ethiopia wear hats made from the calabash to protect them from the sun. South Africa's [[FNB Stadium]], which hosted the [[2010 FIFA World Cup]], is known as The Calabash as its shape takes inspiration from the calabash. The calabash is also used in the manufacture of [[puppets]].

Calabash also has a large cultural significance. In many African legends, Calabash (commonly referred to as gourds) are presented as a vessel for knowledge and wisdom.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |doi=10.1525/9780520949539-004 |chapter=Food and the African Past |title=In the Shadow of Slavery |year=2019 |pages=6–26 |isbn=978-0-520-94953-9 |s2cid=243438207 |first1=Judith |last1=Carney |publisher=University of California Press }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Refreshing palm wine.jpg|Calabashes (''nkalu'' in [[Kikongo]]) are used to collect and store [[palm wine]] in [[Bandundu Province]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (c. 1990)
File:Toumani Diabaté.jpg|The Malian [[Kora (instrument)|kora]] player [[Toumani Diabaté]] with his instrument (2007)
File:Ayumaré.jpg|Calabash [[puppet]] ([[Marionette]]) (2020)
File:Festival du Bout du Monde 2017 - Sona Jobarteh - 001.jpg|The African [[Calabash (percussion)|percussion calabash]] (2017)
</gallery>

=== China ===
The ''húlu'' ([[wiktionary:葫芦|葫芦]]/[[wiktionary:葫蘆|葫蘆]]), as the calabash is called in [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]]'','' is an ancient symbol for health. Hulu had fabled healing properties due to doctors in former times carrying medicine inside it. The ''hulu'' was believed to absorb negative, earth-based ''[[qi]]'' (energy) that would otherwise affect health, and is a [[traditional Chinese medicine]] cure. The bottle gourd is a symbol of the [[Eight Immortals]], and particularly [[Li Tieguai]], who is associated with medicine. Li Tieguai's gourd was said to carry medicine that could cure any illness and never emptied, which he dispensed to the poor and needy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ho |first=Kwok Man |others=Translated and edited by Joanne O'Brien |title=The Eight Immortals of Taoism: Legends and Fables of Popular Taoism |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1990 |isbn=9780452010703 |pages=93–94}}</ref><ref name="britannica2">{{cite web|date=2008|title=Li T'ieh-kuai|url=http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9048083|access-date=26 October 2008|website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> Some folk myths say the "gourd had spirals of smoke ascend from it, denoting his power of setting his spirit free from his body,"<ref name="wilson">{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Eddie W.|date=April 1951|title=The Gourd in Folk Symbolism|journal=Western Folklore|volume=10|issue=2|pages=162–164|doi=10.2307/1497969|jstor=1497969}}</ref> and that it "served as a bedroom for the night..."<ref name="britannica2"/> The gourd is also an attribute of the deity [[Shouxing]] and a symbol of longevity.<ref>{{cite book |first=E. T. C. |last=Werner |author-link=E. T. C. Werner |year=1922 |title=Myths & Legends of China |publisher=George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. |location=New York |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15250 |access-date=2021-10-10}}</ref>

Dried calabash were also used as containers for liquids, often liquors or medicines. Calabash gourds were also grown in earthen molds to form different shapes with imprinted floral or arabesque designs. Molded gourds were also dried to house [[Crickets as pets|pet crickets]]. The texture of the gourd lends itself nicely to the sound of the insect, much like a musical instrument. The musical instrument, ''hulusi'', is a kind of flute made from the gourd.{{clarify|date=December 2017}}

<gallery>
File:Gourd katydid cage with pressed flower design.JPG|A [[Qing dynasty]] cricket cage
File:FSbottlegourd.jpg|A bottle gourd
File:Wang Li playing an hulusi (calabash flute) - 2012 Richmond Folk Festival.jpg|A ''[[hulusi]]'', the calabash gourd flute or bottle gourd flute
</gallery>

=== Jewish culture ===
In the [[Sephardim|Safaradi Jewish]] culture, the gourd is eaten during [[Rosh Hashana]] (Jewish New Year's Eve). According to the texts the gourd is eaten as a symbol of tearing apart the enemies who may come and attack. It is called Qaraa, which in Hebrew means "torn" קרע. 
"שיקרעו אויבנו מעלינו" meaning "may our enemies be torn apart over from us".{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

=== Polynesia ===
The plant is spread throughout [[Polynesia]] known by ''hue'' in many related languages.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hue|work=Te Māra Reo: The Language Garden|year=2022|publisher=Benton Family Trust|url=https://www.temarareo.org/PPN-Hue.html|access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>

In [[Hawaii]] the word "calabash" refers to a large serving bowl, usually made from hardwood rather than from the calabash gourd, which is used on a buffet table or in the middle of the dining table. The use of the calabash in Hawaii has led to terms like "calabash family" or "calabash cousins", indicating an extended family grown up around shared meals and close friendships. This gourd is often dried when ripe and used as a percussion instrument called an ''ipu heke'' (double gourd drum) or just [[Ipu]] in contemporary and ancient [[hula]].

The [[Māori people]] of [[New Zealand]] grew several cultivars of calabash for particular uses like ''ipu kai'' cultivars as food containers and ''tahā wai'' cultivars as water gourds. They believed the gourd as a representation of Pū-tē-hue, one of [[Tāne]] (their god of forests)'s offspring.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Best|first=Elsdon|url= https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesAgri-t1-body-d7.html|title=Maori Agriculture - Part VII The Hue or Gourd. Lagenaria Vulgaris|year=1976|publisher=A. R. Shearer|location=Wellington, New Zealand|pages=245–255|via=NZETC at [[Victoria University of Wellington]] Library}}</ref> Several types of [[taonga pūoro]] (musical instruments) are made from gourds, including types of flute (ororuarangi, kōauau ponga ihu) and shakers (hue rarā, hue puruwai).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Flintoff |first1=Brian |title=Taonga Pūoro Singing Treasures: The Musical Instruments of the Māori |date=2004 |publisher=Craig Potton Publishing |location=Nelson |pages=27–35}}</ref>

===India===
The calabash is used as a resonator in many string instruments in India. Instruments that look like guitars are made of wood, but can have a calabash resonator at the end of the strings table, called ''toomba''. The ''[[sitar]]'', the ''[[surbahar]]'', the ''[[tanpura]]'' (north of India, ''tambura'' south of India), may have a ''toomba''. In some cases, the ''toomba'' may not be functional, but if the instrument is large, it is retained because of its balance function, which is the case of the ''[[Saraswati veena]]''. Other instruments like ''[[rudra veena]]'' and ''[[vichitra veena]]'' have two large calabash resonators at both ends of the strings table. The instrument, Gopichand used by the Baul singers of Bengal is made out of calabash. The practice is also common among [[Buddhist]] and [[Jain]] sages.<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.asianart.com/articles/landsberg/index.html
| date        = 4 February 2000
| title       = Kanailal and Brother, Calcutta: The History of an Indian Musical Instrument Maker
| first       = Steven
| last        = Landsberg
}}</ref>

These ''toombas'' are made of dried calabash gourds, using special cultivars that were originally imported from Africa and Madagascar. They are mostly grown in [[Bengal]] and near [[Miraj]], [[Maharashtra]]. These gourds are valuable items and they are carefully tended; for example, they are sometimes given injections to stop worms and insects from making holes in them while they are drying.

<gallery>
File:Deutsches Museum (121283169).jpg|''[[Sitars]]'' and one ''rudra veena'' (bottom right)
File:Sitar3.jpg|Sitar with resonator made from a bottle gourd.<ref>{{cite web|via=Small Encyclopedia of Indian Instruments at India-instruments.de|lang=de|url=http://www.india-instruments.de/instrumente/instrumentenlexikon/sitar.html|url-status=dead|date=2001|last=Kasliwal|first=Suneera|title=Classical Musical Instruments - Sitar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319031459/http://www.india-instruments.de/instrumente/instrumentenlexikon/sitar.html |archive-date=19 March 2014}}</ref> ''[[Surbahar]]'' is similar but larger and with lower sounds (something like a bass ''sitar'')<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ashokpathak.com/?page_id=124 | url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925121534/http://ashokpathak.com/?page_id=124 | archive-date=25 September 2022 | website=Pt. Ashok Pathak | title=Dhrupad Surbahar }}</ref>
File:Srivani veena.jpg|[[Saraswati veena]], the calabash resonator is not always functional but it is kept in place because of the balancing effect.<ref name="veena para mi me estas macaneando">{{cite web |url=http://www.buckinghammusic.com/veena/veena.html |url-status=usurped |title=Veena, Saraswati Veena, Rudra Veena and Vichitra Veena |access-date=2014-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320141928/http://www.buckinghammusic.com/veena/veena.html |archive-date=20 March 2014}}</ref>
File:Asad Ali Khan.jpg|Rudra veena is a large plucked [[string instrument]] used in [[Hindustani classical music]]. One of the major types of ''[[veena]]'' played in Indian classical music, it has two calabash gourd resonators.<ref name="veena para mi me estas macaneando" /> The ''[[vichitra veena]]'', also with two large resonators, is a similar instrument.
File:Ektara player 2.jpg|[[Ektara]] (one string) resonator made from a calabash gourd
File:Shubha Mudgal in playing the Tanpura (2527339532).jpg|The ''tambura'' or ''[[tanpura]]'' may have a ''toomba'' (although not in this picture), a resonator made of calabash at the end of the strings table.<ref>{{cite web|website=Daly Music|url-status=dead |url=http://www.dalymusic.com/tanpura-tambura-indian-musical-instrument/|archive-date=31 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231010651/http://www.dalymusic.com/tanpura-tambura-indian-musical-instrument/|title=Tambura/tanpura}}</ref>
</gallery>

[[Hindu]] ascetics (''[[sadhu]]'') traditionally use a dried gourd vessel called the ''[[kamandalu]]''. The juice of a bottle gourd is considered to have medicinal properties and be very healthy (see juice toxicity above).

In parts of India a dried, unpunctured gourd is used as a float (called ''surai-kuduvai'' in Tamil) to help people learn to swim in rural areas.

===Philippines===
In the Philippines, dried calabash gourds are one common material for making a traditional ''[[salakot]]'' hat.<ref name="Peralta">{{cite book|last=Peralta|first=Jesus T.|title=Salakot and Other Headgear|date=2013|publisher=National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) & Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP), UNESCO|page=232|url=https://www.unesco-ichcap.org/eng/ek/sub3/pdf_file/domain5/095_Salakot_and_Other_Headgear.pdf|access-date=6 March 2020|archive-date=24 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124234811/https://www.unesco-ichcap.org/eng/ek/sub3/pdf_file/domain5/095_Salakot_and_Other_Headgear.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2012, Teófilo García of [[Abra (province)|Abra]] in [[Luzon]], an expert artisan who makes the [[Ilocano people|Ilocano]] ''tamburaw'' variant using calabash, was awarded by the [[National Commission for Culture and the Arts]] with the ''"Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan"'' (National Living Treasures Award). He was cited for his dedication to practising and teaching the craft as an [[intangible cultural heritage]] of the Philippines under the Traditional Craftsmanship category.<ref name="Peralta"/>
<gallery>
File:Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Money Museum salakot display.jpg|''[[Salakot]]'' in the [[Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas]] Money Museum, with the bottom one made from calabash
File:Salakots and women's hats (1900).jpg|''[[Salakot]]'' from the Philippines (c.1900), the top one is made from calabash
File:LM DIEGO SILANG.jpg|Bust of [[Diego Silang]], the 18th-century Ilocano revolutionary leader, shown wearing a ''tamburaw'' made from gourd
</gallery>

=== New Guinea ===
Among some New Guinea highland tribes, the calabash is used by men as a [[Koteka|penis sheath]].

=== South America ===
In Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil, calabash gourds are dried and carved into ''mates'' (from the [[Quechua language|Quichua]] word ''mathi'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Lara|first=Jesus|date=1971|title=Diccionario Qhëshwa—Castellano Castellano—Qhëshwa|location=Cochabamba|publisher=Editorial Los Amigos del Libro|page=171}}</ref> adopted into the Spanish language), the traditional container for [[Mate (beverage)|mate]], the caffeinated, tea-like drink brewed from the [[yerba mate]] plant. In the region the beverage itself is called ''mate'' as well as the calabash from which the drinking vessels are made. In Peru it is used in a popular practice for the making of [[mate burilado]]; "''burilado''" is the technique adopted for decorating the ''mate'' calabashes.

<gallery>
File:Lagenaria siceraria mate fruits from accesion.jpg|''L. siceraria'' "''mate''" type
File:6-porongo.jpg|Calabash used as a container for drinking ''[[Mate (drink)|mate]]'' with a metal ''[[bombilla]]''
File:Tipos de mate (recipiente).jpg|''Mate'' carved and decorated as a drinking container (also called ''mate'', and the infusion also called ''mate'')
File:Lagenaria siceraria - Mates Burilados Carved Gourds - Cusco, Perú detail.jpg|''[[Mate burilado]]'' in Peru 
</gallery>

In Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador calabash gourds are used for medicinal purposes. The [[Inca]] culture applied symbols from folklore to gourds, this practice is still familiar and valued.

=== North America ===
Calabash's watertight features allowed it to be often used as container to ship seeds across the translantic slave trade.<ref name=":0" /> They were also used by enslaved people to carry seeds for planting on plantation fields.<ref name=":0" /> On plantations that held enslaved African Americans, the Calabash symbolized freedom—as alluded to in the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" that referenced the Big Dipper constellation that was used to guide the Underground Railroad.<ref name=":0" />