Page 10 - aruba-today-20230828

Monday 28 august 2023 locAl
A10

Episode XLII: The Watapana tree

used by the whites and na- permit. Twice and in good
tives to call this fascinating rainy years three times the
tree. The name Guatapa- tree will bear. The tree was
na (Spanish spelling) is also cared for to be free from
used in certain regions of beetles and weevils, for
Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico these pests would ruin a
ORANJESTAD — Nowadays and Central America. harvest. The gathering of
people erroneously call Pods where called Divi the pods was the job for
this tree Divi Divi. Divi, under this name it was women and children.
brought on the market in
For Aruba Watapana was Caracas, to be shipped to The whole of Aruba awoke
a means of living providing Spain. Today the real local to fresh activity at harvest-
many with seasonal work. name is being replaced time. Women and children
The plucking of the Watap- and forgotten. went out with sticks and
ana-pod and the cutting of baskets or gabs to beat the
the wood, it was very suit- The Watapana grows al- pods off the trees and gath-
able for burning charcoal, most anywhere on the is- er them. They were to hand
were legally protected. land and the dried leaves in wat they had gathered
Possibly the Divi Divi is a na- and humus accumulated to the owner each day,
tive tree, but it may also beneath are much sought who paid them twenty-five
have been imported and after for their soil enriching Dutch cents for every bag
grown. At any rate we qualities. Not in the least containing slightly over 20
know that the Spaniards this action meager the sur- kilograms. The pods had to
on Curacao tanned skins vival chances of the speci- be examined in order to re-
with the Divi Divi-pods. men. move dirt and bits of stalk
Pods contain tannic acid as well as unripe fruits, after
and gallic acid. The high This tree was so important this they were dried in the
tannin percentage of the in the 19th century and sun for a few days.
ripe pods was known be- up to 1920 that there was The people sometimes
fore 1840. Mostly the tree is a severe penalty for those plucked unripe pods, such
recognizable at a consid- who cut a single tree. On pods were put into the
erable distance by its "wind lease grounds it was even ground where, after some
form". Not a single species worse. You needed a spe- days, they assumed a dark
of tree has a wind-form as cial permit by the Lt. Gov- color and looked some-
typical as that of the Divi ernor to cut one and you thing like ripe ones though
Divi. better have a very good they hardly contained rope Divi Divi was much
The Watapana is a name reason to request such a any tannin. Half-ripe pods, in demand and tannin
pounded fine and boiled, at some places sold for
yielded a pap sometimes sixty to eighty guilders a
used as a popular medi- ton. One of the best years
cine to be applied to open was 1911, when Aruba ex-
sores of animals. ported 303.000 kilos, Cura-
Aruba produced a con- cao 652.000 and Bonaire
siderable part of the total 1.102.000 kilos.
Watapana-crops. The prin- The Watapana meanwhile
cipal market was Ham- has become the official
burg in Germany. Divi Divi tree of Aruba and was so
was used at the tanneries decreed by the Aruba Par- do not care to conserve.
on the Elbe River for the liament. However many The economy that this tree
preparation of leather that times the not enforced once provided has fed
was manufactured into laws concerning protec- many families. It is no coin-
the greased leather boots tion and conservation cidence that wherever you
of East-European farm- of natural resources and see aloes the Watapana is
ers. However, Aruba never other heritages, gives the also seen. Both formed a
shipped direct, everything false impression that we means of income for the
went via Curacao. In Eu- countryside during more
than a century.
To get to know more about
Aruba and its origins, its
animals and culture, we
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