Gourds in History
If we look at many of the utensils we use today to make our lives easier, we will find in history items of very similar shape and
design for many of our modern utensils. Looking at historic gourd utensils make me question, were our modern utensils fashioned after the
gourd utensils or were our modern utensils simply designed the way they are because that is the ideal shape. Considering the ideal shapes
of so many items, leads us back to the gourds and their natural shapes and how they seem to have been designed specifically for man to grow for
use as utensils and tools. Even the fact that gourds can be cross pollinated and selectively bred to create specific designs and shapes
seems to have been fashioned into this plant for the benefit of mankind.
Once clays that could be fired in ovens were discovered, pottery was fashioned our of clay and turned into pots, pitchers, and
bowls, and many of the ancient pottery bowls were shaped very much like their gourd precursors. On each of the following pages we have an
assortment of Gourd utensils from days past, many have been brought to our attention via Native Americans.
One Last note, I would like to thank Scott Nelson for his contributions, to this section of The Gourd Reserve.
- Gourd Strainer or Skimmer
Today we have colendars and strainers, but in ages past we had those too. Here is a gourd strainer that might have been used to pour grease or fat off the top of water or gravy. It could also be used for removing water from solids and other straining and filtering uses.
- gourd purse
Native Americans had a version of a gourd purse as well as we do today. Although not as artistic, they were very functionsl. Gourd purses and gourd carry-alls had a large hole for reaching in and they were deep enough to carry their important stuff.