on Croatian regions, more precisely in the period from the end of the 15th to the end of the 17th century, the Ottomans brought to Croatia many plants that are still popular today, such as cherries, watermelons, melons, quinces, some types of apples and squash, which in some Slavonian villages they are also called Turkish women. The oldest carp squash in Croatia was mentioned in the Osijek Zbornik in 1956: it is a squash from 1734 (the year is engraved on the squash, but it is not known where the carp is). In the years between the First and Second World War, Tuna Mikinac-Gabrin, Franja Kovačević-Ilišev, Marica Kovačević-Ružička, Antun Blaževac-Salerov, Iva Kadić-Sojdan, Šima Dretvić and Andrija and Franja Ivkovac are mentioned as excellent gourd carvers in various ethnological contributions. Specimens of their gourds can be found in various museums, and the largest number are in the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. In the past, gourd painting was much more widespread in the area of ​​the former Slavonian Military Border, especially in Bošnjaci, Drenovci, Babina Greda, Gradište, Soljani, Cerna, Štitar and Račinovci. In the mentioned places, pumpkin painting was not always equally intense: the number of painters changed or only a few stood out for their skill. Today, this art in its original form is mostly preserved in Gradište. Ilija Dretvić-Filakov, folk writer and storyteller, was the most famous and prolific pumpkin painter in Gradište, a village where pumpkin painting was nurtured in the families of Franja and Đula Dretvić, Kate Žigmundovac, Ivan Ivanšić-Martino, Ruža Mikulić, Marko Kadić and Marko Nikolić. It is still cultivated today in the families of Marica Stojanović, Ivan Jovanovac-Jerkovi and Đura Jovanovac-Jerkovi, and Marica and Kate Nikolić, and one of the youngest painters in the city and promoter of this traditional art is Vinko Babić, whose colorful gourds are as a special gift in 2016, it was also given to the Japanese emperor Akishino. Worldwide examples References External links American Gourd Society Canadian Gourd Society Visual arts media Cucurbitaceae Folk art Indigenous art of the Americas