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Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

I have no knowledge of this seemingly 'tradition' of Christmas bamboo bursting - Why are folks cutting down these native bamboo trees, for this activity? maybe I may be enlightened by some good folks. These traditional Caribbean trees are being removed for building etc, and of course some may have been naturally destroyed.

I remember as a child seeing clusters of thick width bamboo trees, and hearing their hollow sound as they knock each other. I recall my grandfather using bamboo to fence around some of his land, and I think our wood house kitchen floor was bamboo panels - I believe that the bamboo wood was used by some families to make cradles for the babies long ago, I may have slept in a bamboo cradle! Plant more bamboo trees NOW!

I remember having my fish broth in a calabash bowl - what has happened to our indigenous habits - bring back our calabash trees - NOw! Plant more calabash trees!


Save our bamboo trees! Leave them alone! Let them grow! Preserve our bamboo species! Plant more bamboo trees! SAVE our bamboo trees!

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

I wrote this some time back in 2010 and sat on it but now as the topic is addressed here it is . The bamboo that was used was the trees that were down and dried so this practice did not destroy the trees per SE and as for for the calabash or "Bowlie"they went to China no pun intended lol. I had to take that one .



Bursting Bamboo

Boom, Boom, Boom
The valley reverberated
Like a battle field under fire
Fire, fire, fire
A loud Boom echoes, with a shrill
A series of replies from across the hill

Boys surround their mount
Their makeshift guns,
A bamboo stout about six joints long.
They all take turns, at priming
It was a skill of nerves and quick timing
To execute a chorus of the bamboo song

After the shot
Being careful, the bamboo gets hot
You blow out white smoke
Ready for the next shot.
A careless move, something went wrong
A deft Voop, we all knew that sound.

Jumping back with a scream
The result of that error was seen
A smell of burning hair, singed skin
A silence filled the air,
Eyelashes burned, smoke ringed eyes
He was fine a lesson learned.

Boom, boom, boom
That tradition now has died
The loudest booms gave us pride
In the annals of history the practices now lie
Like the silenced guns of Fedon’
Bursting Bamboo, the fun is done.


Michael Sutherland

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

HEY MYA,you said that bursting bamboo did not destroy the trees,may be so,but don't forget on a big scale the bamboo was regularly use for house building,(Example many builders was using the BAMBOO as uprights especially when casting concrete flooring )

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

Now the problem in the case of utilizing natural resources whether it is bamboo, mahogany, or calabash is basically usage without replacement or conservation. If we use bamboo to build in whatever form that is fine but we should encourage the conservation by replanting so the population would continue to thrive.
It would be nice for Grenada to get back to basics and get a vibrant agricultural foundation back on track. That does not mean to neglect any other aspects of development but it is maximizing and exploiting our natural resources responsibly.

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

Nice work, MS.

Brings back fond memories of our past times and unfortunately, a reminder of our lost culture.

I sometimes reminisce of my boy days, playing with our locally made toys and wonder if our youths today would ever know the benefits of playing and socializing with live human beings instead of being preoccupied with social media.

Should we petition the Minister of Culture to bring back the Kite, Top, Spinning Cutter and Marbles?

Would they know how to play "Zup" or what a "Tor" is?

Would they know what a "Mad-bull" is and its purpose? or even setting the Compass on a kite to change its direction?

Thanks for keeping the "busting bamboo" alive.

VJL

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

Vernon, I grew up in the times when spinning top was a major past time and in some cases serious competition not only for top design but for durability when time to play “Zup”. My top was made form Guava wood and how fitting as we are from Gouyave “la goyave”. We had an innate knowledge of the best wood that would give the best result based on the purpose of the top. There was tremendous engineering skill that was somehow natural to us although we did not see it in those terms. Something that was simple to us as setting the tip of the tip at the precise angle to get a dead sleep as the top rotates with turbo RPM or to get a circular motions while maintaining the contact point.

Think about it, setting the compass on the kite to get the desired control, and the correct weighted tail to have a smooth sailing bamboo kite, which by the way was for the faint of nerves, or to get the fighter kite that would boot and boot and boot and you had to hold on or get carried across the field. Boy I will say that these days are gone as the prime flying places like St.Rose and the Fort and Brickie is not as accessible as back then.

Games like marbles has all but varnished into the annals of history. My friend Video games have replaced those cherished games and the younger generations have all but lost the knowledge or never even heard the terms you mentioned. Now I don’t know that it the Ministry of culture or sport can bring these back but if on a local level there are competitions organized it can breathe life back into this and help to preserve these games.

I can suggest also that if we did not hold on to fisherman’s birthday events like sailing races the motor engines on boats would push sailing to the pages of history or folk writers telling jokes about hanging on gunnel.

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

>>when spinning top was a major past time and in some cases serious competition not only for top design but for durability when time to play “Zup”.<<

Hey Mya, wasn't Zup a marble game? Or am I mistaken?

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

No T, you are not mistaken.

"Zup" is indeed a Marble game that requres one opponent to stand in position with his "Tor"(large marble) and knock the other. A successful knock requires the exchange of an agreed amount.

That form of play did not require any "ring" (circle containing buttons and marbles) and "spanning"( a handicap, if you will, in order to gain better access to the ring.

For the Spinning Cutter, the game was "zwill" (slamming your SC against your opponent's with the objective of cutting his string.

For Top Spinning, it was "zug" where you took turns in placing your Top on the groung while your opponent tries to split yours open by delivering several jooks.

We slso had games like "Patt-eh"(Sister Merle had the Gold Medal for that one) "Samanie-o", "One-z", "Round Doves", "ganga-gang" and not for the faint of heart, "pound stone to stone".

Then the disease of Play Station arrived and our culture ended up in the hospital.

VJL

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

It's amazing to read this here, just the other day I was telling my daughter we had no TV growing up. She said mommy that must have been so boring to which I replied, we had no time to be bored, as I began telling her of all the fun things we did as children. Going in the river holding crayfish, from middle river all the way to Waterloo, jumping the two rivers to go visits MIss CIsley, all the while eating all kind of fruits we may have come in contact with. When we got back home we make a lil crayfish broth, with coco yam and what ever else our hands could fall on. I explained to her that at night we would sit down in the gap(front yard) and tell nancy stories, talk about lajabless(I know I didn't spell that one right), Tim Tim, singing songs like in a fine castle, who's going around pansy melo little fellow and yes playing gangagang with our little pieces of sticks, I could have gone on and on with so much insights of my life growing up in Grenada.
But with the age of technology, social medial and the likes our culture is dwindling dwindling and soon may disappear. Growing up in Grenada I would not change it for the world!!!!!

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

Ms. Pa mo, why don't you get a copy of A PLACE CALLED GOUYAVE for your daughter to read about the life and times of those "boring" days? She might find herself liking it as much as so many other children of Grenadian/Caribbean immigrants have attested to.
And oh yes, btw, many adults say they can't help laughing as they read about the many characters in the book whom they recall vividly, are brought back to life in full relief.

I am looking forward to reading the comments from both you and your daughter after reading A PLACE CALLED GOUYAVE. Enjoy it!!!!

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!

Some may say that those things that you all are reminiscing about have long since gone and that we should get used to living in a different world than when we were kids. Surely no one in his right mind would still yearn for a slide rule to be back instead of using a calculator to solve math problems. But spinning cutters, kite flying, making tops etc. are among those things that remind us when children were so very involved with each other long ago. Think about it, could there be any fun in playing marbles all by yourself? How could you play zwill on Brickie if there weren't other kites flying? How could you say "pretty play, who play behind a man back down" without another friend/s also spinning his top?

But do you need a friend to watch a t/v show to really enjoy it all by yourself? Not really. The need for interaction therefore becomes far less important and with it the need to develop true friendships. I believe that is what the loss of those old games mean and translate to. I'll argue that it is symbolic of the loss of that interaction with your friends as it was back in those old days. They go hand in hand.

As we know children have always had difficulty separating from their parents on that first day of school. But back then there were lots of your friends already in the school where you were about to attend. Therefore it eased the pain of separation.
Chances are a child today may not encounter even one friend in her/his new school. Even the teacher is a stranger, and the majority of the pupils are likely strangers to each other. Therefore a child today is facing double jeopardy when entering a new school. He doesn't want his parents to leave, and made worst when there isn't a familiar face to hang with. If that isn't abandonment, tell me what is!

Verne, as I see it that's one of the greatest losses that our children have to contend with in this brave new world of 80 inch television, play-stations and others that technology has given us.

Re: Bamboo and calabash trees ! Plant more bamboo and calabash trees! Save our trees!/MYA

Season greetings MYA, I enjoyed reading your poem, which is nothing short of 'par excellence' excuse my impertinence, but I think this 'par excellence' is nothing short of a 'colonial education' - however, it seems that you have omitted the title for your poem.

I have my own 'colonial education' humble contribution, - with regard to this lovely tropical tree. These words entered my head, whilst pondering on the Bamboo and as a 'colonial educated child' I was quick to put pen to paper .. but unlike my colonial educated days I used a biro not an ink fountain pen or pencil for the first draft followed by the fountain pen!.


Bamboo - hallowed be thy sound!

Bamboo, hallowed be thy natural hollow musical sound
To the swaying of the island breeze
giving way to a creaking, gentle knocking sound
Bearing similarities to the painful arthritic joint.

Bamboo, hallowed be thy natural hollow musical sound
Which has been discarded by natives for a digital sound?
or chopped down to make way for a far too big house
maybe for a few folks and probably a mouse!

Bamboo, hallowed be thy natural hollow musical sound
whilst awaiting selection for the bursting, boom, explosive sound.
And, folks ponder when wind patterns make a thunderous roaring sound
At the absences of a hollow musical windbreaker sound!

by Lady Genevieve Jourdaine.

SAVE the BAMBOO NOW! Plant MORE Bamboo trees NOW! Leave the bamboo alone NOW!