Carved pumpkin (mate)

Carved pumpkin (mate)

100% fair traded

From Peru

Dimensions: approx. Ø 9 cm x 10 cm

Single copy

Moon and sun stand for night and day, shadow and light, dynamics and statics, Ying and Yan. The combination of sun and moon was used in the Christian art of the West as well as in antiquity in a personified form for the representation of religious figures. In the Ying and Yan, the sun and moon are examples of opposing and yet related forces or principles.

The pumpkin is a natural product from the Peruvian Andean region. The workshops that process these pumpkins are in Cochas Chico and Cochas Grande, Huancayo Region, Peru. This is where the pre-Inca tradition of using the pumpkins for use (dishes) comes from. Even today, pumpkins are used for dishes, but also for bags, jewelry boxes, masks and musical instruments.

In Peru there are regular competitions between the various craft villages and individual artists. A special skill is required to decorate the pumpkin products. There are no limits to the variety and imagination in the patterns. There are traditional as well as modern patterns. Since the pumpkin is a natural product, we have no influence on the shapes, so each piece is unique.