On gurds, pumpkins and calabashes

[Christian Folini]

My new drinking bottle made out of a gurd or calabash
was one of the running gags at our summer camp in Canova.
For those beyond the know: You should turn to Martin
Jungnickel to tell you the story, which he loves so much.

Making it by hand was very easy, once I got a suitable piece at
a local market. But then David asked me for references
and I quickly ran out of sources. While I was sure I had
seen them on multiple pictures (most likely Joseph leading Maria
and Jesus to Aegypt) I could not find them anymore. But then
I stumbled over an article on botanical finds from Swiss
excavagations and I felt save. But this prooved false,
as the article malcited other articles as Julian Wiethold,
an archaeobotanic from Goettingen, showed me.

In German you have the troublesome parallel that it is all
called 'Kuerbis'. English and French are more diverse, as
they make a difference between gurd and pumpkin. It is indeed
true, that the pumpkin reached Europe only after 1500. But
already the romans knew to cultivate the gurd. While they
look similar, it should be noted, that gurd and pumpkin
have not much in common. They are different species.

So my new drinking bottle and I seem to be on save grounds.
Thus no need to worry when I want to show it to the girls in future. :)

cheers

christian folini

'Two plus two equals five for sufficiently large values of two.'
mailto:christian.folini-at-unifr.ch      http://www.tikon.ch/folini
Institute  for  Medieval Studies  at the University of  Fribourg

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