Category Archives: Folk medicine

Folk medicine: black truffle aphrodisiac

text:

Mr. B: “There is a folk story about black truffle, here it goes. Napoleon was once an incomplete man who can’t bear children. One day, one of his men said to him that there is a folk remedy for this issue. So, Napoleon used a lot of black truffles and an old hen to make soup. After he ate all the black truffles and drank all the soup, he made sex with his wife. And this time his wife got pregnant immediately.”

Context:

Mr. B is a friend of mine who lives in China. He consumes a lot of stories that circulate on the internet. This story is one of the stories he discovered on Baidu, a Chinese search Engine.

Analysis:

This story might have happened, or more likely not have happened in history. But the most important thing is that we don’t know if this is true, which gives this story the characteristic of legend. The actual effect of black truffles on sexual performance and the ability to have a child is not scientifically proven. But black truffle might enhance human ability in that regard as it contains lots of minerals that are valuable to the human body. These traits make this piece about folk medicine: black truffle, in the context of a legend: Napoleon’s story.

The fact that this story is viral on the internet in China shows the globalization of stories and a continuation, or regeneration of folklore in the need of current social value. People who carry this story to others might be someone who is interested in aphrodisiac-related things. Needs create supply, whether in material supply or in mental supply: hope is an important aspect of moving forward.

Miracle Fountain

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: English

Text: “I don’t have a ton of specifics about what he was suffering from, but there was a kid in my class who had some rare leg-bone condition and he had to have surgery to walk. They thought he was going to die and he had leg casts for two years, and he went to this like font of naturally occurring holy water in Mexico. I don’t exactly know where it was, but he went there and went to mass and had a priest bless him and like fine now. He’s cured.”

Context: S is currently a twenty-year old student at USC. She grew up in Orange County, California and attended private, Catholic school for her education. 

Analysis: Water as a healing source is a common belief in many different cultures. In S myth it seems that the water is providing a contagious magic, and that by having proximity to the water or touching it, her classmate was able to be cured. In Mexico there are a few different fonts or fountains which S could be referring to, one is described in this LA Times Story: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-27-mn-838-story.html. Healing fountains are often located near or in connection to the Roman Catholic Church for example the In the 18th century it wasn’t uncommon for doctors to prescribe “going to the sea” as a cure for patients with various ailments. This article by the Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/the-historic-healing-power-of-the-beach/279175/, provides context about how proximity to water alone has been prescribed in many different medical capacities. S myth also relates to the story of the fountain of youth which dates back to the 5th century B.C. and is thought to provide eternal youth to anyone who drinks from it. However, maybe more applicable S’ myth is the healing power of water in the Bible. The Christian ritual of baptism is thought to cleanse “original sin.” Also, the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-14, in which a leper is healed in the Jordan waters.

Picking and Burning Sage

Text:

My informant, from Rosebud, South Dakota, describes the use of sage in Lakota culture: “So sage is a thing that we use in Lakota culture, it’s kind of a thing, to put it in more modern terms, it’s kind of like clorox wipes for Lakota people, because it’s very much a cleansing feeling. Has a lot of different uses. It can be used as a gift between people. And picking it is a thing in of itself. Because you can’t pull it, you have to cut it at the stem, say a prayer, sometimes you leave some tobacco as a “thank you” for getting the sage. A lot of people burn sage in their house to kind of cleanse it almost? Like if they’re feeling a little like, down, depressed or anything, sage helps kinda cleanse that area of the house. And a lot of ceremonies will center around a bowl of burning sage and you’ll kind of like waft yourself with it. It’s used a lot in like, Sundance, Sweat, and everything.”

Context:

“I’ve never picked sage myself, I’ve seen it be picked. And burning it, I think just, I don’t know if it’s because of some factor or if it’s just familiar, but every time I smell sage, or like burning sage, it just gives me this sense of like calmness? And serenity. Which nothing else really does. So I guess in a sense it works. I think the sage has always been a part of my life and I haven’t really known anything different. And I think knowing that it’s not as wide of a thing just makes it all the more special to me. I mean, we were hunter-gatherers, back in our day, we used the land to survive, and sage. And I think it’s just a tradition that’s carried on since that.”

Interpretation:

The rituals of picking and burning sage seem to represent a connection between the group and their past. The informant emphasizes how important it is to him that this is something that feels unique to his group, and is representative of where they came from and who they used to be, and who they still are now. The sage represents a connection to the earth, picking it carefully and leaving tobacco behind in return suggests values of gratitude and respect for nature. Sage seems to be a versatile object, used in multiple ceremonies and rituals, of various scales. The smell of sage seems to represent to the informant the familiarity of home.

Don’t shower after giving birth – Taiwanese Folk Superstition

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 50
Occupation: Gallery owner
Performance Date: 4/30/2023
Language: Mandarin

1. Text

When asked to share a superstition, the informant responded with the following Taiwanese superstition:

“A woman is not supposed to shower after giving birth, so while they are in the care center for a month after giving birth they do not shower. The belief is that you might catch a cold if you shower after giving birth. Similarly you are not supposed to eat anything that is cold or is categorized as “cold” foods (in Chinese medicine philosophy there are two kinds of foods, “cold” and “hot” foods that influence the body’s temperature).”

2. Context

The informant believes that there is some scientific basis for this superstition so they were not very sure if it counts as a superstition. The informant learned this superstition from her grandma and other elders of older generations. The informant does not follow the superstition as she did bathe after giving birth.

3. Analysis

The superstition collected above from the informant is a folk belief that is related to Taiwanese folk medicine. There are a plethora of superstitions about health, body temperature, and womanhood. For instance, if someone eats what is considered as “hot” foods on a hot summer day they are more likely to get a heat-stroke or nose-bleed. In addition, there is a folk belief that women should not eat or drink cold food or liquids during their period since it would worsen period cramps and be bad for their health. This folk belief is very similar to the one collected from the informant above, as the “coldness” of water is believed to be harmful to the health of a woman who just gave birth. Therefore this folk belief is also a form of contagious magic as through contact with water the coldness is transferred to the person. This superstition may have begun in a time where water was not sterilized which would cause harmful germs to enter the body which is dangerous for mothers who just gave birth as they have a weakened immune system. With the improvements of modern medicine and healthcare however women do not have to worry as much about taking a bath after giving birth since the water and environment are clean and safe. This explains why the informant does not follow the superstition that is suggested by older generations. This result suggests that through technological advances, some folk beliefs are rendered obsolete and not as useful as they used to be.

Egg Limpia

Nationality: Colombian American
Age: 19

Context
SD is my close friend here at USC. Her parents are both from Columbia and immigrated to the US. Her mother is from Cartagena, Colombia, and immigrated to Newark, New Jersey, when she was sixteen. Her father is from Salento, Colombia, and immigrated to Clifton, New Jersey, when he was twenty. They all now reside in Orlando, Florida.

Here you see an example of an egg cleanse that the informant preformed on me while we were together.

Text

DO (interviewer): As a Colombian-American, are there are religious traditions or rituals that your family has?

SD: Egg limpiezas I think are considered a ritual that we have. It’s like a spiritual thing, so I’d say yeah that. 

DO: Can you explain more about what that means and what exactly the ritual entails?

SD: So you’ll need an egg, sometimes multiple but I’ll explain that later, a cup with water, salt, a toilet, and rubbing alcohol. So first off, you need the egg to be warm so some people leave their eggs out but I think that’s mad gross so, I just hold mine in my hand until it feels room temperature or at least until it isn’t cold. Then you pour rubbing alcohol over it. I think this is to clean it, but honestly I don’t know why we do this, I just know it’s important. Then, you rub the egg all over your body, even under your feet. I think this part depends from person to person because I’ve heard some people do different things. You either say like “I remove all negative energy from my body” or you say positive affirmations. I think either works. Then once you do this around your whole body. You fill the cup with water and break the egg open in the water. Then you read the results. 

DO: What do you mean by results? 

SD: Whatever you see in the water/egg mixture thing means something. If you see spikes that means that you gossip a lot or others gossip about you a lot and this is blocking your blessings. If the egg looks cloudy or dull this means that you have certain physical blocks. So this can mean lots of headaches, hard time focusing,always tired, body pain, stuff like that. If there’s strings going from the yolk to the surface then this means that there’s certain people in your life that you need to cut ties with and these strings represent these ties. And bubbles are “the bad energy” (did air quotes) leaving your body and spirit. So you want lots of bubbles. Bubbles means it’s working. I think there’s more but I don’t really know them off the top of my head. 

DO: You mentioned that there is sometimes a need for multiple eggs, when would these other eggs come in?

SD: So if your results are bad, meaning there’s a lot of anything other than bubbles, then there could still be bad energy trapped in you. So my dad usually says that you should do egg cleanses until there’s only bubbles in your cup. 

DO: And do you put these in the same cup? Or another way to ask that I guess is are there multiple eggs in one cup?

SD: Oh, no! Once you do one reading you dispose of the egg and stuff and then do another one. 

DO: And how do you do this? 

SD: You throw it in the toilet. Well first, you sprinkle salt into the cup and the salt traps the bad energy into the cup and ensures that it won’t come back for a while. And never EVER look into the cup from the top down view. When doing the readings make sure that you’re only looking through the side of the cup. If you look at the cup from top down then you’re inviting back in the negative energy that you just took out, so it would defeat the purpose. Then just flush it down the toilet and you’re good. 

DO: Do you feel as if these cleansings work for you? Have you had success with them? What about your family?

SD: It’s actually pretty funny I guess, because my family is super religious and that’s an important part of our culture. But I think that egg cleansing are technically witchcraft. But I love doing them when I feel something is off and my family does too. I genuinely do feel better after I do it. 

Analysis

This ritual can be looked at from numerous different perspectives. Technically it can be seen as a medical type of folklore, but not for your physical body but instead for your spirit. It also ties into a discussion about religion and religious lore. The informant’s family practices Catholicism, but this ritual is considered to be black magic by many. This ritual shows just how personal folklore can be since this family holds some practices from Catholicism and some from witchcraft. Although they may deny the validity of other witchcraft rituals, they fully believe in the one they perform.