COINING
Main Piece:
This is a method of medicine for Indonesians/Chinese (for things such as colds, flus, fevers, etc.).
You do it by first rubbing “minyak putih” (literal translation: white oil) on to the affected area (usually the Chest or the Back area – could be over the triceps in some cases, etc…) – the area where “the bad wind” has entered the body, making it sick, and then you use a coin (but I use the hard peeled skin of red garlic, sometimes using the garlic piece too) and I use that to rub on the affected area down, down, down, in lines down the body to get rid of the bad wind.
The idea is that with each stroke down of the garlic/coin the garlic/coin takes some bad wind out of the body.
Usually this is done until there are red marks all over the affected/intended area. The redder the mark, sometimes blue or purple dots, the better or more effective the coining is working.
Background Information:
Why do they know this piece?
Because this is a very big part of medicine of our culture and it is a very good way to heal.
Where/Who did they learn it from?
I learned it from my mother.
What does it mean for them?
A very good way to heal your family when they are sick.
Context of Performance:
Talking to grandmother over the phone.
Thoughts:
Personally I do not like this method of medicine because it is painful/can be very painful. This would be done a lot to me when I was younger.
Once I went to school in the 2nd grade (I came here to the States from Indonesia when I was in 1st grade, still unaccustomed to the culture/rules of America) and my teacher saw how I had these giant red marks up to my neck. She called me during recess and asked me if everything was okay at home – she mistook it for child abuse.
Also there was a period when my father was very sick from pneumonia and this coining was all that my mother did to help him heal – and it was extremely insufficient – and he had ended up going to the ER for his pneumonia – it had gone very bad to the point where 75% of his lungs were filled with the liquid and the bacteria. I think this could have been preventable much earlier on if we took him to a legitimate doctor instead of trying to use this home remedy to heal him.
Although I have some dislikes about this I do admit that sometimes it does work and it helps me heal much faster than without it/traditional American/Western over the counter medicine.