“Calabash, calabash, food time come …….”  Not so many years ago the calabash was commonly used as an eating and drinking utensil for daily life in many Caribbean countries. Older islanders remember well the use of the calabash, cut in half or into various shapes, for cups, dishes, bowls, water containers, spoons, dippers and other daily utensils. Rastafarians still use it for these purposes.

For the younger folk or those who don’t know, the calabash grows on a tree and is spherical or ball-shaped. It has a woody hard outside and a pulpy inside, which has to be removed. It is referred to as a fruit although it is not eatable. The calabash can be anything from a few inches to more than a foot across.

On Montserrat, the volcanic island’s Hospitality Association put the traditional and cultural significance of the calabash to good use this summer by mounting Montserrat’s first ever Calabash Festival.

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda the Right Hon Baldwin Spencer was a special guest at some of the Festival events. He was invited over by Montserrat’s Chief Minister Dr Lowell Lewis and was enthusiastic about the events he attended.

President of the Hospitality Association, Florence Griffith Joseph, explained that the July Calabash Festival was intended to liven up the quiet summer months on the island and serve as an attraction for visitors. “We have teamed up with the Montserrat Tourist Board and hope to make this an annual event”, she said. “It will be a focal point for locals as well as drawing tourists in the summer”.

Speaking about the calabash, special guest speaker Professor J A George Irish said, “Its sturdiness, durability, utility, productivity, musicality, adaptability to night and day or to sun and rain, and its propensity to inspire craftsmanship, are all defining qualities that can enrich community life and outlook if its lessons are discerned and embraced”. Professor Irish is a distinguished Montserratian academic who is head of Caribbean and Latin American Studies the Medgar Evers College at New York State University.

Festival events included an exhibition of items made from the calabash as well as a Cultural Expo of performing arts, a lecture symposium named after Professor Irish, a food fair, and an informal festival “lime” with entertainment, drinks and music. An ecumenical church service held to commemorate the eleventh anniversary of the volcanic activity, still ongoing, marked the start of the Festival, while the official opening took place at the Exhibition, after the Festival had actually started.

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