Category Archives: Folk medicine

Fermented Rice (醪糟)

Context:
The informant is a Chinese woman in her mid-50s who was born and raised in China and currently lives in Beijing. She grew up within a traditional cultural environment where home remedies and food-based health practices were commonly passed down between women in the family.

Text:
The informant describes fermented rice (醪糟) as a common traditional food often associated with women’s health, particularly during menstruation. It is typically served warm, sometimes with eggs or sugar, and is believed in popular practice to help “warm the body” and support recovery during a woman’s period. The informant explains that in her experience, it is often recommended within family settings as a comforting food during menstruation.

Analysis:
This shows how fermented rice functions not only as a household food but also as part of a gendered system of folk health knowledge. Its association with menstruation reflects broader cultural ideas about balancing the body, warmth, and recovery through food. Within this context, the dish becomes more than nourishment—it carries symbolic meaning tied to women’s bodily experience and care. At the same time, its continued use in everyday life demonstrates how traditional beliefs about health are preserved and normalized through domestic practice. In this way, fermented rice can also be understood as a form of embodied cultural knowledge that connects food, gender, and wellbeing in everyday life.

Cures for Colds

Age: 21

TEXT:

Do you have any cures for colds in your family?

Informant: “So when I get a cold, pretty much what we do first is my mom buys eucalyptus leaves and we take a real hot shower with them. Supposedly it’s to help open our lungs. Then my mom will buy some guavas, and it’ll make guava tea. She’ll put cinnamon on it and then once it’s done, we will put in a little help with some honey to help our sore throats and then pretty much just a bunch of rest. And then in our rooms, we will cut half an onion and it’s supposed to help kill the virus.”

CONTEXT:

The context behind these cures for colds, are traditions that the informant has learned from her family who grew up in Guatemala and things that she was raised with.

ANALYSIS:

Though some aspects of these crews for colds can’t technically be proven with science, such as cutting an onion in half to help kill the virus, the belief in the tradition of enacting leaves forms of folk medicine can often serve as a way just to make one feel better within their own mind and thus promote themselves to take better care of themselves to get better faster. Additionally, cures such as guava tea and eucalyptus showers have been specified by this family and culture making it specific to them and those in their community 

The dog that bit you

Age: 44

TEXT:

“Nothing better to beat a hangover than getting a taste of the dog that bit you.”

CONTEXT:

A saying used by the informant’s grandfather and uncle, in reference to curing a hangover. The informant later explained her disbelief in the saying and application of the saying, stating, “I just think it makes you more drunk, and then you just don’t feel as bad.”

ANALYSIS:

This take on the traditional English proverb the hair of the dog was used by my informants grandparent and uncle growing up in Chicago. The saying offers a fresh and witty take on the widely known saying, and when thinking of the same or sharing it with others, such as was the case with this interview, my informant is reminded of her childhood and interactions with now deceased relatives. These sayings bring back memories in a bittersweet way, but keep the memory of those who said them alive. In my opinion, this is a combination of folk medicine (hangover cure) and a proverb.

Mexican Egg Ritual

Age: 19
Hometown: Rifle, Colorado
Location: Mexico

Context:
My friend told me about this ritual while we were talking about nightmares and bad luck. He is originally from Colorado and moved to Los Angeles for college. His family is originally from Mexico, and thus he got this ritual from them as it was passed down through generations of his family.

Content:
Interviewer: “Can you tell me a little bit more about the egg ritual that you mentioned?”

Interviewee: “So basically in Mexican tradition whenever little kids are having nightmares or anything, like they went through a traumatic event which casues you to have like really bad consecutive nightmares you would go get a limpiar de huevo.

Which is essentially translated to an egg cleaning and like a healer will basically get an egg and she’ll go around your body, like basically glide the egg over your entire body (a whole egg, not cracked).

And then she’ll go off to the side after rubbing the egg down your entire body and crack it into water.

Interviewer: “Are you supposed to see anything in the egg? Like tea leaves?”

Interviewee: “The egg is basically supposed to absorb all the bad energy and then you can see how bad the energy is by how the egg like disperses in the water.”

Analysis:
This ritual is a form of healing folklore, where illness and distress are a result of negative energy rather than physical issues. The egg acts as a symbolic object that can absorb this energy from the person who holds it and turns the invisible problem into something visible and thus interpretable. The act of rubbing or gliding the egg over the patient’s body followed by cracking the egg into water creates a process that gives the healer and the patient a sense of control and a way of diagnosis. It also seems to reflect a cultural belief surrounding the connection between emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being and health. Overall, the ritual reinforces trust in traditional and cultural healing practices and shows how folklore can provide meaning and comfort in response to fear or anxiety around health concerns.

Rubbing an egg as a cure for illness/injury

Age: 20s Location: Los Angeles

Context: Participant and I in were anthropology class discussing various means of folk medicine from our childhoods. She is Mexican-American with both her parents having been born Mexico.

Text: Rubbing an egg on an area of the body to ‘cure’ it. Regardless if its a physical injury or an illness like the flu. The participant mentioned that her mother and her mothers family were more likely to do this, however her father never seemed to question the act and accepted it easily, likely encountering in his life as well. She mentioned it is a common thing to do in Mexican-American households.

Analysis:

The practice illustrates the normalization of ritual healing within Mexican-American households and a good example of folk medicine practices. By passing the egg over the body, the family performs a “cleansing” that validates communal beliefs and provides psychological comfort regardless of the specific medical diagnosis. There is value in the act of care and attention provided with this likely soothing act of rubbing the egg.