Gourds have been used for over 4000 years to store food and water, long before ceramic vessels.
In Peru, the gourd is called a mate from the indigenous Quechua word that means gourd dish.
Today the materos(gourd carvers) centered in Cochas & Lima carve mostly decorative pieces with the intricate designs evolving over the centuries to include festivals, weddings, harvests, shepherds, musicians and the more recent jungle scenes with indigenous plants & animals.
