The universal attraction of bamboo is its beauty. Always vibrant always alive, its leaves respond to the slightest breeze. After a rain, water beads and drops from the leaves and down the green, glassy culms. Its magical, swishing sound transports the spirit to a quieter place.

Beyond its beauty, the marvel of this magnificent plant is its abundance and adaptability. For centuries, the indigenous people of Asia, Africa, Australia, and North and South America have harvested and crafted its poles into shelter, tools, and other essentials of daily life.

Bamboo in the Easter Hemisphere

Far Eastern culture is deeply interwoven with bamboo. It's so important to the material life of the region's cultures that it's inseparable from the fabric of those cultures. To the Chinese, bamboo is the proverbial symbol for resilience in adversity: tough yet pliant, bending without breaking, a symbol of humankind's moral imperative to maintain strength and fortitude in times of turmoil and hardship,

in Japan, traditional bamboo fences are seen on the grounds of temples, at cultural sites, and along the entryways of private homes. Many bamboo structures are less formal however, and are used for more functional purposes. In much of Southeast Asia, where bamboo is the equivalent of steel in the West, bamboo scaffolding is a common sight.

North America

In the warm, humid climate of the southeastern United States, grows the only bamboo native to North America, Arundinaria gigantea, or rivercane growing 30 feet (9 m) tall in dense stands called canebrakes. Native Americans used cane poles for roofs, barricades, arrows, and supports for squash and beans. They also wove split cane into mats and storage vessels. Today Cherokee Indians continue the tradition of harvesting, splitting, dyeing, and weaving bamboo into fine river cane baskets.

South America

The Western Hemisphere's largest native species, Guadua angustifolia, or guadua, is among the world's strongest and most durable bamboos. Growing in great forests in the Andes Mountains, it has been a mainstay of Colombian culture for centuries. In regions where guadua abounds, dwellings are often built on earthquake-prone, mountainous terrain. A Latin American school of architecture that utilizes bamboo for urban and rural housing has emerged, and incorporates sturdy construction and sophisticated bamboo joinery techniques used by the general population for hundreds of years.

See Chapter 3 - Harvesting and Preparing Bamboo

Article written by Carol Strangler