In Brazil, we call Cabaça, Porongo (from Quechua poronco = vessel), Coité (from Tupi kuya e’tê = vessel), among other regional names, the fruit of shrubs and trees of the species Crescentia (C. cujete, C. amazonica, C. alata), which are present throughout South and Central America and Mexico. Known as the calabash tree or gourd tree, it bears a spherical fruit that has served, in addition to food, many practical and ritualistic purposes among numerous Indigenous peoples. Due to its cultural and practical significance, many societies have legends about the origin of the gourd as a plant, but more importantly, they regard the gourd as a primordial artifact or as an archetype of the notion of “container”, that which is capable of holding not only tangible elements (liquids, solids) but also abstract ones, such as Being, Creation, Night, and Light.
One origin myth of the gourd is told by the Nambikwara people, who inhabit the northwest of Mato Grosso and until recently also roamed parts of Rondônia. It tells the story of the boy Hait Teataçu and how the wind instrument made from the gourd came to be. When he was still a child, Hait Teataçu fell ill and could no longer walk. Unable to keep up with his group in their travels and daily activities, he became lost in the forest between two sandstone cliffs. The brave boy struggled to survive in that place, dragging himself to find water and food until one day he no longer had the strength. That was when a bird with a beautiful song came and brought drops of water and fruit seeds in its beak, placing them into the boy’s mouth. The bird helped ease Hait Teataçu’s suffering until he passed away. When the Nambikwara later returned to the place, they found a gourd tree, from which they now make their three-holed flutes. These flutes imitate the bird’s song and honor the memory of Hait Teataçu’s courage.