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