Ipu making day at school

An ipu is a gourd that the old Hawaiian people used for storage. They stored anything you can think of like, water, fishing hooks, food, dye, etc. It's a dried out and hallowed gourd with the top sawed off. It's very sacred to them and they are very respectful to the ipu. No rolling, kicking, throwing or anything to hurt it or disrespect it in any way.

They feel that the ipu chooses you, so they lined up all the Ipu's and had the kids go up and choose one.Once Kaiya chose the Ipu she wanted, we got to work cleaning the outside. The outside has a layer of filmy skin on it and dirt. To clean it you use a scrubber, sand and water from the ocean. After we got it cleaned they cut off the top for us, and we used long makeshift utensils to clean out the seeds, which look like a mix between almonds and walnuts.

Three silly girls and theirIpu's:

I LOVE these pictures! thanks ang for being the photographer.

Once we got home I oiled the Ipu with cocunut oil and we also kept the top for a bowl, so we oiled that too.the finished Ipu

It was really fun for me to do, Kaiya was only semi-interested, but she had fun playing with it in the end.