Category Archives: Folk medicine

Latin American Home Remedies

Text: 

Menthol and “The green liquid”

Context: 

Informant: “Menthol, or what Americans call Vapor rub, was a huge remedy for me as a child. My grandma would use it on me anytime I was sick, and she would put it everywhere. She’d apply it on my nostrils, chest, and back, and it always gave me a feeling of relief.“

Collector: “My parents and grandmother would do the same thing, we think that stuff can cure anything. It kind of felt icy hot when applied, and it smelled medicinal, it would also give me immediate relief.“

Informant: “Icy hot is a great way to put it, and yes it smelled herbal. And speaking of herbs, did your grandma also have this green, herb-infused liquid that she’d place on you for like good luck or good health? It looked nasty and brownish but smelled really good.“

Collector: “Yes! My cousins and I would call it the money water, but my grandma never really gave us a formal name for it.“

Analysis:

In the case of Menthol and the mystery greenish/brown liquid, we have an instance of monogenesis, the diffusion of folk to different locations. What’s interesting in this case, is that HR’s grandmother was a Christian woman, while mine was a practitioner of Santeria, a fusion of witchcraft and religion. Although they both have different belief systems, it seems they share customs and folk medicines. I am not entirely aware of the origins of the heavy use of either form of medicine in Latin America, but they mostly stem from the interaction of European faith with indigenous belief. Latin America is a colonized land, and thus a lot of its culture is a fusion of some sort. When HR mentions the herbal smell or use of herbs within Menthol and green liquid, I was immediately reminded of Indigenous cultures and their ties to herbal remedies. Native cultures are known for being highly adept to use of herbs for rituals, medicines, and even good luck. When taking a step back and considering a diachronic perspective, one can see how Indigenous culture has diffused into Latin America over time.

Red Ginseng and Deer Antler

CONTEXT: HL is a second year student at USC, originally from Maryland. HL learned this practice from her grandparents, who she lived with until moving to Los Angeles. HL’s grandparents are both from Korea, which is where they learned this practice. HL’s relationship with this is that she does not believe it had any effect on her health and strength, but appreciates that her grandparents wanted that for her.

TEXT:

HL: So for some reason – in Korean culture – my grandparents would always have one of their siblings visit Korea and come back, and when they came back the would bring this syrup/juice thing that was made up of crushed up deer bones or some kind of big animal. It was the most bitter disgusting thing I had ever eaten in my entire life and I always knew when they opened the big red box that it was in there. So then I would have to drink this pouch of the crushed up bone juice, and they were like, “oh its so that you grow up to be healthy and strong” and stuff. So it’s a common East Asian herbal medicine thing. Yeah that was a tradition I grew up with. It would happen once or twice a year – whenever someone would go to Korea on vacation and come back. Probably from when I was about four to when I was ten. They prioritize it more for kids, and you can find these boxes with the pouches in HMART, like here I’ve seen them. They’re hidden away in a special area on a special shelf near the alcohol section. They’re like 100 or 200 dollars for a box of these pouches. I thought it was bullshit but I did it because they forced me too, or sometimes if I did it they would give me money. To specify, the pouches were actually red ginseng, other root things, and deer antlers, but I swear my grandpa told me it was bones.

ANALYSIS: This is an example of folk medicine, also related to life cycle, as it is primarily given to children. Red ginseng is native to Korea, as are deer, so both could be part of folk traditions going back many years. I do not know of the health benefits of either, but as with other folk medicine there could be medical benefits derived from them. HL said the mixture did not taste good, which can invoke a feeling that if it doesn’t taste good, but someone is drinking it anyway, then it must have some other benefit, such as health. It is a marker of life cycle, as HL said that this is mostly only done until 18. This folk medicine practice also serves as a way of passing down family practices and cultural heritage related to being Korean, as HL’s grandparents insisted she participate, which connects her to something they learned while growing up in Korea, while she was growing up in the US.

A Limpia in Mexico

A limpia, a cleansing, is done to get rid of negative energy. The informant heard of it because she was walking around in Mexico City with her family, and saw people doing it on the street at a little shop. Her family approached to see it being done and what all the commotion was. The service was donation based and she asked if they wanted to do it. The lady who was in charge of the ritual was indigenous, and worse Aztec decorated and inspired clothing. She explained what she was doing so they would understand what they would be going through. First, she started by asking them to close their eyes, sprayed some kind of liquid(herbs mixed into a liquid that smelled like lavender), and told them to rub it all over their hair, face, and clothes. She said a prayer, then started to burn incense and circled their body. She did this a couple of times, then grabbed a fresh herb and smacked them on their legs and body. Their eyes stayed closed the whole time. Then, she blew a whistle that is supposed to symbolize a jaguar, twice in each ear, then blew a concha, then rubbed the liquid once more, and said a final prayer. She said it was to get rid of bad energy or imbalance, to bring balance and positive energy. Prayer is done in Spanish which said, “Relieve this person from any harm in their life, may this limpia be helpful with the presence of god”.

The informant doesn’t believe in those things but did it because her mom wanted to do it. She enjoyed the smell of herbs, and the incense made it relaxing but did not believe in the superstition. She grew up hearing of limpias because her father received limpias all the time when she was a kid, and she would also see it done in other cultures. 

This limpia is a form of folk medicine done in Mexican culture. It revolves around being faced with bad energy and thus people needing a way to remove this bad energy. It involves some aspects of religious tie-ins such as the prayer, the incense, and the rubbing of some oil, or liquid made of herbs but also relates to Aztec culture. Additionally, herbs seem to be a part of this reliance on natural remedies for the curing of illnesses that are commonly found in Latin America. 

The Magic of Vicks VapoRub

Text:

I: Whenever someone in my family was sick or feeling under the weather, the usual go-to before any over the counter or cough medicine was Vicks VapoRub. It wasn’t necessarily a solve-all, but it was known in my family to make things feel a lot better and it would help you breathe better if you were congested. Funny enough, if I was only feeling a little bit sick, putting some of it on my chest before sleeping would make me feel better the next morning.

Context:

The informant is 48, was born and raised in the United States, and whose parents were born and raised in the Philippines. The informant isn’t sure where the use of Vicks to “cure” illnesses came from, but knows that it is a somewhat widely held belief in Filipino culture, and popularly satirized by Filipino-American comedians like Jo Koy. 

Analysis:

Within the informant’s family, the use of Vicks VapoRub is both a cultural inside joke while also acting as a type of folk medicine. While there is no scientific evidence suggesting that Vicks has physical benefits to ailments, the widely held belief that it is soothing during the healing process is passed down between Filipino family members. The reliance on the mentholated ointment may stem from a cultural stigma surrounding healthcare and accessibility to healthcare within Filipino communities. A sentiment shared by our elders was usually: “if you could fix it at home, there was little reason to seek help outside”. Though the sentiment remains, it’s relevance has faded with the newer generations, who look to Vicks not as a miracle drug but as a home remedy that soothes and is nostalgic, but does not necessary solve the problem.

The Cure for Sty

Background:
The informant is a 50-year-old Taiwanese woman. When asked about a folk medicine that she knows, she told the collector about the cure for sty that was taught by her parents. The collection happened via a video call.

Text:
Informant: Oh I can think about one. Do you know about the cure for sty? You know, the little bumpy thing that you sometimes grow on your eyelids, and it’s almost like a blister or like a pimple? We always say that if you have a sty, you must have looked at something bad, like peeking at another person in the shower or seeing something sexual.

Collector: Yes. So what is the cure for that?

Informant: Well, you can definitely go to a doctor. They would tell you it’s an infection, poke a hole to drain the liquid, and prescribe you antibiotics and stuff. When I was little, it was not easy to get to a doctor, but kids at my time loved playing in muddy places, getting sand all over their faces, and just getting really dirty while playing. We get styes all the time and our parents would tell us to do this certain move to cure the sty. Let’s say you have a sty on your right eyelid. You use your opposite hand, in this case, your left hand, go behind your head, and pull the corner of your infected eye and the sty would go away in a few days.

Collector: Why not just use the hand on the same side?

Informant: I don’t really know. That’s just how I was told.

Collector: Is this effective?

Informant: Well, honestly, I think sty goes away on its own, with or without interference, but in my experience, it did work, multiple times. So I would say yes.

Analysis:
This cure for sty is a sort of folk remedy in Taiwanese culture, in which styes are seen as a consequence of looking at “dirty” things. Therefore, the cure described in the text can be viewed as a conversion utilizing homeopathic magic. The action of pulling the corner of the eye can flatten the bump that a sty would cause, symbolizing what the person’s eye would look like when there is no sty anymore. It is also fascinating to see how people connect actual dirt or bacteria with the idea of “dirty” sexual content.