Discover how Eastern African cultures have used the Sacred Gourd in their Music and ceremonies.

Discover how Eastern African cultures have used the Sacred Gourd in their Music and ceremonies.

Africa has an abundance of plant resources with cultural, historical, aesthetic, and commercial significance. A major example of such plants is the Cucurbitaceae (the gourd family) which has about 960 species and 130 genera distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Dhiman et al. 2012; Schaffer & Paris 2016). The family is often referred to as cucurbits (Kocyan et al. 2007; Dhiman et al. 2012). This group of plants have been playing important roles in the cultural systems of the African nations for decades which make them highly relevant to the Africans. Lagenaria siceraria is a unique, multipurpose member of the family Cucurbitaceae and is a crucial tool in the history, socio-cultural and traditional music industry of many African nations. The history of several African nations is incomplete without the highlight of the significant role of the bottle gourd in royal battles, establishment of kingdoms, creation of the earth, amongst others. 

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