A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Whenever possible, a system of folk medicine is best understood as a dynamic in a historical context. The Aztecs in Mexico provide a good example of how conventional medical systems can go hand in hand with folk medicine, feeding from one another and allowing both to grow according to the needs of the population.
Aztec establishment (as opposed to folk) medicine was highly organized, with a herbarium, a zoo, an intellectual elite, and a training and certification academy. It was based on a complex theoretical structure and experimental research. Some segments of the population, however, had only limited access to this medicine. They relied instead on traditional treatments and medicines.
Aztec establishment medicine was eliminated when the Spanish conquerors killed the medical personnel and introduced their own medicine. This intrusive system became the new medicine of the Aztec establishment. The system still offered limited access. Some elements of the European approach, however, were compatible with the folk medical practice of the Native Americans and were therefore incorporated into a new folk system. Mexican folk medicine thrived and continued to incorporate elements of the new establishment medicine.
Similarly, Native North American systems were the establishment medicine in their own societies before conquest. Europeans brought diseases that decimated populations and challenged indigenous medical systems. The social and moral bases of the systems came under attack by missionaries and governments, even as immigrants began to adopt the ideas and materials from native systems. Again, this intrusive medicine became the establishment medicine, and Native American medicine, incorporating some Euro-American elements, became folk medicine.
DISCOVERING PLANT BENEFITS
The history of using plants for medicine and healing goes back to the beginning of humankind. In their search for nourishment, primitive humans sampled many kinds of plants. Those that were palatable were used for food, while plants with toxic or unpleasant effects were avoided or used against enemies. Other plants that produced physiological effects such as perspiration, defecation, healing, or hallucinations were saved for medicinal purposes and divination. Over the course of thousands of years, people have learned to use a wide variety of plants as medicines for different ailments.
More than 4,000 years ago, the Chinese emperor Qien Nong (Chi’en Nung) put together a book of medicinal plants called Ben Zao (Pen Tsao). It contained descriptions of more than 300 plants, several of which are still used in medicine. The Sumerians, at the same time and later, were recording prescriptions on clay tablets, and the Egyptians were writing their medical systems on rolls of papyrus. The oldest such document, known as the Papyrus Kabun, dates from the time of King Amenemhet III (1840–1792 B.C.E.) and contains information about women’s diseases and medical conditions.
The most famous of these medical papyri, the so-called Ebers Papyrus, reports voluminously on the pharmaceutical prescriptions of the era. It includes specific information on how plants are to be used, for example, in the treatment of parasite worms or of stomach ailments. Some of these plants are still used today—in folk and conventional medicine.
The Greeks and the Romans derived some of their herbal knowledge from these early civilizations. Their contributions are recorded in Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica and the 37-volume natural history written by Pliny the Elder. Some of these works are known to us through translations into Arabic by Rhazes and Avicenna. The knowledge of medicinal plants was further nurtured by monks in Europe, who grew medicinal plants and translated the Arabic works. The first recognized apothecaries opened in Baghdad in the 9th century. By the 13th century, London became a major trading center in herbs and spices.
In the Dark Ages, the belief of the Christian Church that disease was a punishment for sin caused a great setback in medical progress. Women in childbirth welcomed the pain as an opportunity to atone for their sins. Only in monasteries did herbals and other documented sources of natural medicine continue to be painstakingly translated.
The Renaissance provided a new forum for the development of the folk tradition. William Caxton printed dozens of medical manuals, and Nicholas Culpeper translated the entire physicians’ pharmacopoeia The English Physician and Complete Herbals in 1653. It is still in print. The advent of alchemy, and the split between the “new philosophy” of reason and experiment, and the previous tradition of “science” (ancient medical doctrines, herbalism, astrology, and the occult) ended the golden age of herbals. Witch hunts disposed of village “healing women,” women were forbidden to study and all nonprofessional healers were declared heretics. The use of herbs became associated with magic and the occult, an uneasy alliance that has been difficult to shake. Herbalism was effectively dropped from mainstream medical training, though folk advice and treatment from the apothecary herbalist continued to be available, especially in less well-off areas.
Folk medicine and home remedies do not provide a miracle cure, but almost anyone can benefit from the prudent use of herbs, plants, and household items as a form of restorative and preventive medicine. Most plants offer a rich source of vitamins and minerals, aside from having healing properties, and can be an important part of the daily diet, eaten fresh, or perhaps drunk as a tisane. A herbal tonic is useful, for example, in the winter months, when fresh fruit and green vegetables are not a regular part of our diets. Or plants like echinacea or garlic can be taken daily to improve the general efficiency of the immune system.
TRADITIONAL FOLK MEDICINE TODAY
The term “folk medicine” refers to the traditional beliefs, practices, and materials that people use to maintain health and cope with disease, outside of an organized relationship with academic, professionally recognized, and established medical systems and treatments.
The beliefs and practices that make up a system of folk medicine are very closely related to the history and traditions of a recognizable social group. Many people practice folk medicine today, generally working in an environment where they share the belief system of their patients, and their approach to maintaining health and treating disease.
The growing concern about the side-effects of medicinal drugs, including the tragedies caused by compounds like thalidomide, has meant that herbalism has been called upon once more to provide natural medicines. In particular, pregnant women, children, people with chronic conditions that have refused to be shifted by orthodox medicine, and those with immunosuppressed conditions have had successful—and, most importantly, safe—treatment without the use of toxic drugs. Environmental pollution, food additives, contaminated water, and many other factors put massive stress on our bodies and immune systems, and it is now more important than ever to take a step back from chemical preparations and find ways to support our bodies against the demands of contemporary living.
As research into the active constituents of herbs continues, increasing numbers of ancient treatments and tonics are being rediscovered and recognized, and brought back into widespread use. The global transportation network means that we now have access to treatments used in countries around the world—bringing us a variety of amazing plants such as ginseng, guarana, tea tree oil, aloe vera, and ginkgo biloba.
Much of the pharmacopeia of academic medicine—including aspirin (from the white willow)—has been derived from folk remedies, even as academic medicine has disparaged the folk reasons for their use. In the past, this process has mostly been haphazard, but since the Second World War there has been an intensified, systematic investigation of tribal and folk medicines in the search