Tag Archives: folk medicine

Love binding

Context:

B is one of my close friends and has connections and friendships with all kinds of people. Shes heard of many practices and stories from friends that have performed these practices themselves or through others. She heard of this practice through her cousin who had a friend that actually performed this.

The context of this piece was when we were talking about some superstitions we had heard of or practices and B mentioned her cousin had recently told her this one.

Text:

B: “Uh this one is a little gross like nasty kind of but hey, you asked. So my cousin told me that she has a friend who did this on her husband. She’s just weird like that but whatever. So its said that if a woman gives a man some of her blood, like her….period blood, then he’d be in love with her forever and not fall for anyone else. And that’s what my cousin said her friend did because he used to be such a flirt with all the girls but now he’s like a puppy on a leash.

Me: “Wait, the guy just willingly drank something like that?”

B: “I’m sure some guys are into weird stuff like that but nah my cousin’s friend was sneaky with it. She put her own period blood into some spaghetti she made for him. Her you know, stuff mixed in with the sauce so he couldn’t taste it. But apparently it worked for her because she says she feels like he’s bonded to her or something like that, I don’t know”

Analysis:

This interview really surprised me because I had never heard of something like this existing or even being done to a person.  This folk content also piqued my interest because I found it to be an example of Homeopathic magic. In this piece, the desired outcome is for the person receiving the blood to change their external temptations and become devoted to the giver of the blood. In order to do that, my informant’s cousin’s friend put their bodily fluid into an edible substance, which is supposed to symbolize the receiver’s connection to the giver. I think this could also possibly be contagious magic as the practice requires a physical secretion from the giver’s body in order for it to be completed

Mal De Ojo

Context:

J is a first generation Salvadorian-American and has made friends with different kinds of people from different cultures. She heard this one from a close friend of hers and tries to employ it now in her everyday life.

The context of this piece was during a shift at work after attending some customers. These customers had a baby with them.”

Text:

J: “Oh gosh I was so scared I looked at that baby for too long! She was just too cute you know. Like I told myself not too but I just like babies too much”

Me: “Why were you trying to not stare? I don’t think the mom would’ve minded, she seemed nice during the transaction.”

J:  “I didn’t want to give the baby mal de ojo. I don’t know if you heard about what that is but my friend told me about it. Apparently, its like a illness you can give to cute little babies. But its not like coughing on them or anything like that. She told me that if you look at a baby for too long it’ll make them fussy and like sick. I guess its like, like your stare is too strong or something and it ends up making the baby cry. Even if you don’t try to give them like a strong start it can still give them ma de ojo so I just try to look a little but not for too long. Or you can just touch like their hand and it’ll go away, or that’s what my friend told me about it.”

Analysis:

The mal de ojo is a folk illness and its translation into English is “evil eye.” This folk illness primarily affects children and babies are usually the most vulnerable. This belief is that a simple look or a stare can cause symptoms of bad luck, sickness and even death. As J said, infliction of mal de ojo does not have to be intentional for it to be given to a child. Treatment and prevention vary in different regions. For example, in Mexico it is thought that the person admiring the child can prevent the malady by touching the child while in the Caribbean touching the child is thought to exacerbate the problem. A folk remedy to this illness is the performance of an egg cleaning. I found this interesting because I had heard of this folk illness before, so it was interesting to hear it from J’s perspective and see in person how she handled avoiding it.

Egg Cleanings

Context:

M is a Mexican immigrant and mother of three. She has used folk medicine to cure some of the ailments of her children throughout the years. She learned the techniques from her mother and uses them on her children and grandchildren now.

The context of this piece was during a dinner when I asked if she knew any folk medicine methods and she knew of one that could be used on anyone.

Text:

M: “Muy bien, este método se puede utilizar en cualquier persona y se puede hacer por su cuenta o alguien más puede ayudarle. Pero tienes que agarrar un huevo y te tienes que persignar. Repítelo de tres a cinco veces mientras recitas un pasaje bíblico. Cuando hayas terminado, rompe el huevo en media taza de agua mezclada con sal. Lo que haya en la taza es la mala energía que tenías. Por lo general, después de poner el huevo en la taza se vería diferente de lo que sería un huevo normal sin cocinar. Si el huevo se ve blanco, como si estuviera algo cocido, entonces esa es la cantidad de mala energía que tienes.”

//Translation:

M: “Okay, this method can be used on anyone and can be done on your own or someone else can help you with it. But you have to grab an egg and make the sign of the cross on your chest. Repeat it three to five times while reciting a biblical passage. When you are done, break the egg into half a cup of water mixed with salt. Whatever is in the cup is the bad energy you had. Usually after you put the egg in the cup it would look different than a normal uncooked egg would. If the egg looks white, as if it is somewhat cooked, then that is the amount of bad energy it has.”

Analysis:

I really enjoyed having this interview with M and learning about this form of folk medicine. Before this interview, I had not heard of anything like this, so it was a nice learning experience to have. I thought it was interesting to hear about how this process is performed and the ingredients that go into it. Everyday objects that can be found in almost anyone’s home is used for this process which is why I was so surprised by how accessible and easy it is to perform. It was also interesting to hear how the bad energy is extracted and then transferred into something that is visible like the whites of the egg.

Steam Inhalation in Asian Medicinal Practices

Main Piece:

Informant: Essentially, it’s where you take a pot of water, and you put some herbs… Herbs mainly found in a lot of Asian stores or Asian medicinal stores, and you would boil it… And then you would take the pot, you set it on the ground, and then you either sit on the floor or take a stool…

Me: And, I think I know where you’re going with this: You take a blanket or some type of sheet, you put it over the pot and your own head, and you kinda lean your face down over the pot, right?

Informant: Mhm, yeah. And you just sit there for as long as you want. Usually like ten minutes. And just like steam with the herbs… I personally never used it before… but whenever I see our parents use it, they usually do this when they feel sick. So, it’s like an at home remedy.

Me: I would assume for sinuses, congestion… I have engaged in this type of facial steaming.

Context:

This was performed over FaceTime call with my older sister, a junior majoring in Kinesiology at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her and I are both in our respective bedrooms, and it is late at night. I asked her to speak about this steaming practice we had in our family.

Analysis:

This is very similar to other folk medicine practices, especially sauna rooms. Perhaps, this evolved from other steaming practices in America, Europe, and/or Japan. As opposed to a full body steaming, this is really just for the face. This concept may seem “foreign” to others outside of Asian countries, but this was actually a practice I was very familiar with. Therefore, I didn’t recognize it as folklore because I thought everybody did it. I started asking my roommates and my friends and was absolutely dumbfounded! This at home remedy for sinuses and congestion has become cross-generational amongst me and my family, and I can’t wait to share it with others.

Hot and Cold Foods In Persian Culture

Background

Informant is a friend of mine from high school. She is a current student at UCLA and former student at The Madeira School (the high school we both attended). She is a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Iran. She does not have any specific religious affiliations. I chose to interview several people from my high school to compare their versions of our school stories. She is referred to as “SF”.

Context

I asked the informant about any homeopathic medicines or remedies she has learned from her family/culture. She provided multiple examples – this example is of the concept of hot and cold foods.

Content

In Persian culture, there’s this really interesting concept. It’s foods that are used that is like kind of used for specific, like, things that you’re feeling. So basically the words are like there’s two different categories, like a food can be either “garm” or “sard” and garm and sard mean hot and cold. So like certain foods like fit into those categories and based on like this thing that you like, like if you have a headache or whatever, like either someone will tell you, oh, you have to eat foods that are in the hot category or like you have to eat foods that are in the cold category. And like, I don’t necessarily know, like what goes in each category cause there’s no, there’s kind of like an intuitive like thinking that you think so like ginger is like a hot food or whatever because like, you know, kind of warms you up. But like, there are certain ones that you can’t, I can’t really like distinguish. Like you have to know. Like, I feel like elders, like just know what are like hot and cold foods. And so like that’s a pretty interesting concept that I feel is very specific to like Persian culture is like if you say, Oh, I like feeling ill or whatever, it’s like this certain way, that way I tell you to eat also gets either like hot or cold.

Analysis

While my informant believed the concept of hot and cold foods to be specific to Persian culture, the concept is actually prevalent in a lot of cultures, especially those native to East Asia. In Korea and China, the concept of hot and cold foods is especially prevalent in postpartum care. The correlation of hot and cold is not necessarily the specific temperature of the food, but the effect the food has on the body – if it is warming or cooling. I especially appreciated SF’s comment “I feel like elders, like just know what are hot and cold foods.” It’s a perfect summarization of the mechanisms of folklore: that it is knowledge passed down through generations, so currently, the elder generations have the knowledge, and will pass it along to their descendants.

Translation: Garm and sard are Farsi words. Garm = hot, and sard = cold.

Annotation

For additional versions of hot and cold foods, see: Song, Yuanqing. “坐月子：Postpartum Confinement”. May 20, 2019. USC Folklore Archive. http://uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/%E5%9D%90%E6%9C%88%E5%AD%90%EF%BC%9Apostpartum-confinement/