Look at the two calabash or bottle gourds that was harvested from the Herb Garden in my school. Actually, I only discovered the fruits this morning while going around to check the fruit trees there. The calabash gourd is called Wu Lou in Chinese and is considered to be very auspicious by the Chinese. It is used for decorations during the Chinese New Year. Yeah! This coming lunar new year, I can use wu lou to decorate my house.
Here is some information about the calabash:
The calabash, as a vegetable, is frequently used in southern Chinese cuisine as either a stir-fry or in a soup. The Chinese name for calabash is hulu (simplified Chinese: 葫芦; traditional Chinese: 葫蘆; pinyin: húlu) or huzi (Chinese: 葫子; pinyin: húzi) in Mandarin.
The hulu is an ancient remedy for health. In the old days the doctors would carry medicine inside so it has fabled properties for healing. The hulu is believed to absorb negative earth-based qi (energy) that would otherwise affect health and is a traditional Chinese medicine cure. Dried calabash is also used as containers of liquids, often liquors or medicine. Calabash were also grown in earthen molds to form different shapes and dried to house pet crickets, which were kept for their song and fighting abilities. The texture of the gourd lends itself nicely to the sound of the animal, much like a musical instrument. It is a symbol of the Xian immortals.
1 comment:
very lovely calabash. I wonder how you manage to get them to grow that big. My plants always get attacked by this ubiquitous mildew and I have no idea how to get rid of them. Any suggestions? Thanks
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