What are gourds for? Do people eat them?

Question

I use them as Halloween decoration and that's it. I've been seeing them lately at different Farmers Markets, and I have no idea what people do with them.

Answer 1

Gourds are not edible they are used as decorations, I have seen them used as birdhouses, bore a little hole in the fat body part of the gourd and hang it from a tree.  I have also seen the gourds cut in half length wise, and painted inside or cloth used instead of pain and some sort of scene inside.  Also the gourds are quite often painted outside and scenes or still life painted on them.  I have cut some in half width wise like cutting off the skinny part and keeping he bowl part, cleaning it out you can use this as a bowl for anything, like bars of soap, or letters that you will answer some day, pencils, stuff like that.  

Answer 2

sometimes used for cultivation or smashing shellls...according to wikipedia or decoration.

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help plz???