Tag Archives: sick

Lime and Honey

Nationality: American/Ecuadorian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Washington, DC
Language: English

TEXT: “I remember being 5 or 6 and having this really bad cough. It wouldnt go away, but being a child I didnt tell my mom since I didnt want to go to the doctors office. I finally told my mom when I felt like the cough was turning into a cold, since I was feeling a fever coming over me. My mom walked to the kitchen and opened our fridge. She pulled out a lime, moved to the pantry, grabbed a cup and a bottle of honey. She poured the honey into the cup and squeezed lime into it, then mixed it till it wasnt as thick as the honey was. She scooped some out with a spoon, and gave it to me. My cough did go away after a days of drinking the honey, but I still went to the doctor for the fever and cold.”

CONTEXT: The informant, A.J., shared this tradition during an interview about home remedies they experienced during their childhood. A.J. remembers being sick as a child and their mom giving them a mixture of lime and honey to help soothe a cough that wouldn’t go away. They referenced not knowing exactly the cultural background, but claimed it seems like many Hispanic parents use the same remedy. The memory that made a lasting impression on A.J. was not only because the remedy worked, but because it was a comforting moment between parent and child.

ANALYSIS: This is an example of a folk remedy passed down through family and cultural tradition. The lime and honey mixture is commonly used in many Hispanic households as a natural treatment for sore throats and coughs. Remedies like this often reflect a community’s reliance on natural, accessible ingredients and the wisdom passed through generations. Even when modern medicine is eventually used, these practices show how cultural traditions and caregiving go hand-in-hand, especially in early childhood.

Song for Sick Children

Nationality: American
Age: 58
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Seattle, WA
Language: German

German text: Armes häschen bist du krank, dass du nicht mehr huepfen kannst
English Translation: Poor bunny, you’re so sick that you can’t hop anymore

Context: This is a Swiss song that H.’s mother used to sing to her when she was sick. She still sings it today and it still comforts H. H. also sings it to her friends. She only sings one line of the song.

Analysis: This song holds personal significance for H., in that it serves as a comforting ritual. When she sings it to her friends, she continues this feeling of care and community. Hopping is a bunny’s fundamental movement, so the bunny’s loss of hopping in the song emphasizes that the bunny is sick. It suggests that this culture cares about their children and sees them as full of life. This song is a symbol of enduring love and connection.

Sick Foods

Text:
Growing up, when the informant got sick, his parents would always feed him the same boxed chicken noodle soup. He remembers it coming in small red boxes. He would also get biscuits, or crackers if they had no biscuits. What he was given to drink was always seven-up, though when he was older this was sometimes swapped out for Gatorade. Recently, he found some other people online whose parents had also given them Chicken soup with seven up when they were sick. He was also told to lie down on his left side, which he still does occasionally and it seems to work fine.

Context:
He has absolutely no idea why these foods were the specific ones that he always got. He can understand Chicken noodle soup and biscuits being good foods when sick, because they are warm and rather plain/simple when it comes to flavor/spices, but can’t for the life of him figure out why bubbly seven up was in there. He thinks the lying on his left side might be to help with digestion, but isn’t sure why it’s specifically his left side.

Analysis:
I think the informant is correct that the foods are chosen based on being simple and palatable for a sick stomach, as well as warm. I think always the same so that when a child is uncomfortable and sick, they can be comforted by having some structure and consistency returned to them via the food they’re given while they’re feeling weird and foreign. I’d imagine that the seven up is given to the children because it’s tasty but not all that hard to digest, so the value it brings the child through enjoyment of their meal helps them feel better more than any sugar in it would make their sickness worse. I have no better guess than my informant on why he was told to lie specifically on his left side.

Latin Proverb – Postquam vinum, lac Fac testamento tuo

Nationality: American
Age: 70
Occupation: Musician
Residence: Austin
Performance Date: 03/16/19
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Content: Latin Proverb
“Postquam vinum, lac. Fac testamento tuo.”

Transliteration –
“After the wine, milk. Make your will.”

Translation –
“If after wine, you drink milk, make your last will and testament.”

Context:
Informant – “I heard it from my father. He was quite the linguist. I’ve never heard anyone else say it, but the idea is that if you drink wine then milk, the milk will curdle in your stomach and you’ll feel very sick.”

Analysis:
Wine will curdle milk, so the proverb is factual. The fact that informant’s father told him the proverb in Latin heightens the humor. It’s a pretty silly, intentionally humorous quote and Latin is usually a very ostentatious language.

Eucalyptus Oil

Nationality: United States
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Northern California. Currently residing in Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/29/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Vietnamese

Main Piece:

 

The following was recorded from the Participant. They are marked as DD. I am marked as DG.

 

DD: Um my-the basic, the default remedy that my grandmother would go for is…a bottle of eucalyptus oil. And um whenever I was sick, no matter what the ailment was, she would, you know, tell me to rub it on myself. So if um if I had a headache, put a drop on like my temples or if I had a stuffy nose, put some right below my nose, if I had a stomachache rub some on my stomach, um something that-it’s crazy, my dad’s a dentist and he’s generally a skeptic of a lot of these you know, Vietnamese old wives’ tales, but this is one that he still swears by, and I think there is some method to the madness. I think um the eucalyptus oil is kinda like menthol it’s kinda warming it’s basically a natural icy hot, so I guess it does have a very you know the same like icy hot like warming cooling effect. So I think that’s why it like works for a variety of different effects.

 

DG: So you heard this from your grandmother?

 

DD: Um it’s something that like pretty much all of my family members know. Um my grandmother and my mother are the ones most likely I guess to take care of me when im sick, so um that’s where it came from I guess. And my dad, who’s a doctor because he’s a dentist, he still swears by it. Like it’s to the point where I even brought a bottle with me to college, like after a particularly grueling dance practice Ill rub it on my calves if they’re sore, or if I have a stuffy nose I’ll use some.

 

Context:

 

The conversation was recorded while sitting in a classroom during an assigned period to discuss folklore. However, the context for the homeopathic medicine to be used would be whenever the interviewee was feeling ill, whether it be a cold, or a sore muscle.

 

Background:

 

The student was born and raised in Northern California. She is a sophomore at the University of Southern California. Although she was born in Northern California, her entire family is from Vietnam, and she is one of the first generation to be born in the United States.

 

Analysis:

 

This homeopathic cure is one that seems to hold a lot of weight, as it has a similar feeling to Tiger Balm or Icy Hot, and also is one of the ingredients used in both ointments. It is used incredibly commonly. It reminds me of the use of aloe vera, where both are natural ingredients from plants, used as a soothing cure. I also found it interesting that the interviewees medically trained father believed in eucalyptus oil as a cure, despite neither of them being entirely sure of its proven qualities. I think this shows the power of hearing these cures from above generations, and also points towards it working, as they would not continue to believe in it if it did not work.

 

For another version of this riddle, see Eucalyptus Essential Oil: Uses, Studies, Benefits, Applications % Recipes (Wellness Research Series Book 6) by Ann Sullivan (2015).