Pomegranate is an association celebrating the traditions of multicultural Gascony through its long history of migration from many different cultures. Through food, recipes, textiles, tools, music, philosophy, literature, as well as animals, birds, plants and trees.

Pomegranate has no religious or political stance. Instead, it aims to gather powerful stories, poems, recipes and artwork through listening to voices that often go unheard. Voices that express the journeys we all travel to find dignity in a fast-changing world. All our stories are remarkable and inspiring, full of challenges to overcome. Listening to other people's stories, their memories of the past and present, helps us all find our way to meet today's challenges.    

We are part of a generation caught between the 'Old World' and the 'New World'. Many of us are ill at ease in both, caught in a swelling tide of violence rather than peace. Our question always seems to be why? Our question should be how? How do we change? How can we make a world where all lives matter. If we ask ourselves the question “Do I matter in this world?”, then we also have to ask “Doesn't every life matter?” ... 

Our challenge is to demonstrate our mastery not over nature, but over ourselves as human beings. We have to change, adapt, to share. Other species are already learning to adapt to survive in their world, so dramatically changed by humans. In Singapore, otters have learnt to live in very different surroundings, finding new habitats within an urban sprawl. In villages in Africa, some elephants now manage to find food in people’s gardens … and humans let them! The problem is always us … we have to learn to share.

Pomegranate also aims to include compelling stories from around the world, stories with different points of view on marriage, education, law, religion, on how languages paint different pictures in different cultures. Stories about food production, alongside recipes and cooking methods.

The association also aims to share stories of life-changing journeys that are often raw, powerful and violent, but also stories that are gentle and kind, forming bonds together around the cooking pot, sharing whatever food is available, or at kitchen tables, bringing up the next generation.

Pomegranate invites you to send us your stories, poems, recipes and artwork to share. Join us in exploring the many different cultures that have settled in Gascony in the past and continue to do so. Contribute ideas about the many things we all share, beyond our differences. Join us in creating a ‘Gascon patchwork’, a network of links that unite us all with ideas on how we can adapt to make a better future.

  Send us your stories, poems and artwork  

The association aims to publish selected contributions in a print edition once a year, and also to help organise related events, such as the annual kite-flying festival, Fly With Me – Hope for the Future.

Politicians tell us that migration is the biggest problem the world faces today. Corruption, oppression, war and environmental disasters push more and more people to flee their homes to seek safety somewhere else in the world. The scale of this crisis is only predicted to get worse. By 2050, it is estimated that 1 in 10 people on earth will be displaced. The world has changed; we have changed the world. Maybe by listening more to each other's stories we can be part of changing the future and upholding the dignity of all human life. 

“If you share something with love, you might be the reason someone smiles, or feels full, and that makes you feel full in return.” (Awad, from the Calais Jungle Refugee Camp podcasts.) 

An old Chinese proverb states that “where the winds of change blow, some people build walls, others build windmills”. 

POMEGRANATE BUILDS WINDMILLS NOT WALLS

Pomegranate is gradually forming links with many associations and organisations around the world sharing stories of refugees and migration. These include the CCM32 (Coordination des Collectifs Migrants du Gers), the other side of hope, Asylum Speakers with Jaz O’Hara, and local bookshops in the Gers, as well as many other organisations which will be listed on the Links page as we grow new contacts. 

Photo with kind permission of Robert Golden.

“In the garden of the palace there grew a pomegranate tree with only three pomegranates; their seeds were fabulous gems that shone like lamps by night” (from a Persian fairy tale).

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a shrub or small tree known for its red fruit filled with hundreds of seeds. Originating many thousand years ago in Persia, pomegranate seeds were carried east as far as India, west into Egypt and north into what is modern-day Turkey.

Being of such ancient origin, it is not surprising that pomegranates feature in the foundations of many religions, in stories, myths and legends, as well as in the history of food all over the world. The fruit is a symbol of fertility, health and of mediation between life and death in many countries. And, importantly, all its seeds, symbolizing diverse origins, traditions, superstitions and cultures, combine together to form this glorious fruit.

The 13th-century poet Rumi writes “If you buy a pomegranate, buy one whose ripeness has caused it to be cleft open with a seed-revealing smile…. Its laughter is a blessing, for through its wide-open mouth it shows its heart, like a pearl in the jewel box of spirit…. A laughing pomegranate brings the whole garden to life.”

"They tried to bury us.
They didn't know we were seeds."
Dinos Christianopoulos

Our association, Pomegranate, collects and celebrates stories of migration, past and present. Through the voices of many adventurous, and often exceptionally brave, individuals and families, we can listen and share each other's stories and dreams for a better future. Together we can plant seeds – the other side of hope. We welcome all your contributions – your stories, poems, recipes and artwork – to our project.

“Raise your words,
Not your voice.”
Rumi