OLD BUT GOLDEN

Today's hive learner's prompt was to take a picture of anything and write about it. I looked around me in search of images for this prompt but found none. Then I decided to step out in search of a unique image I could write on, but it looks as if all the amazing images I had in mind disappeared into thin air. lol, I almost gave up on writing this topic, but something happened that made me visit Grandma. In the midst of our discussion, I sighted this old calabash.

The image is mine.

Just like my title says, old but golden," this is an olden-day calabash used for different purposes by our forefathers mostly. It will interest you to know that I used it very well as a child, and up until now, its use cases in my village are still many. This is a molded clay pot used to preserve water, sell locally made drinks like kunu, and store palm wine during traditional marriages on the day of the event.

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In those days, as a child with my grandmother,we had many of these kinds of calabashes in different sizes. We had neither a tank nor a well; this was the only way we could preserve water during the rainy season. Once the rain starts falling, we will use buckets and fetch water through the zinc up there and have it stored in this calabash. It's breakable, and we handle it with care. Naturally, it has the capacity to chill water stored there. If you drink water from this calabash, it's usually as cold as if you refrigerated it. Up until now, some people still make use of it in my village, but they are few. What you can commonly see everywhere are plastic tanks and wells and boreholes in some homes. In my grandmother's home, this is the only one remaining among the 20 others she had before; of course, technology has taken over.

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There's also another use case for this clay pot, which I cannot forget in a hurry. I had one of my cousins, who was 7 years old when I was a child, visit grandma. The boy was bedwetting seriously. According to the boy's mom, she did all she could to stop the young boy from bedwetting but failed. During his stay with us in grandmother's house, he wetted twice, so grandma quickly broke one of these calabashes, added red cooking oil inside, and had it heated on fire 🔥🔥, then asked the young boy to pee inside the hot oil, He did, and grandma repeated this for 3 days, and since that day till date, that bed wetting has seized! Then I asked Grandma the science behind what she did, and she told me that the calabash simply has such a use case as believed by the elders, and they have been practicing it in the past with good results.

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Why did I choose this picture, and what message does it have for me?

I chose this image because, even though it's an old object, its use case to date is still very much recognized amidst technological advancement. Secondly, I love how creative our forefathers were in those days without the modern tanks and bore holes we use today. This is so creative and amazing of them. Knowing that this calabash also plays a vital role in our culture during traditional marriages is a good message it passes across to youngsters and so my choice of the image.

Have you seen this type of locally molded pot before? If yes, what is it used for in your country or home? Please feel free to share with me in the comment section.

This post was inspired by the #hivelearners community on the topic titled "Take a Picture."

Interested in joining the contest? Kindly check out the pinned posts in the Hive Learners community.

It's nice having you stop by my blog today. Thank you 😍.