Little Egypt Heritage Articles eduda tsunogisdi © Bill Oliver 31 December 2006 Vol 5 Issue: #43 ISBN: pending O’siyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, “Folk Cures” Happy New Year – at midnight, you have survived another year. Those I will miss: Former President Ford, Dana Reeve, Don Knotts, Mike Douglas, Shelley Winters, Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, and feisty Texan Ann Richards. Oh, and Ed Bradley. The list seems less this year. My oldest living relative reminded me that she was ninety-six this month, which reminded me that my Dad would have turned the same age the last of last month. I’m just not old enough to have a child about to turn fifty. A while back it was recommended that I either get rid of our cat or start taking a med for allergies. In stopping in to the drug department of MegaStore I was struck by the rows and rows of boxes and bottles of “Medicine Show” items perpetrated to cure, or at least treat, endless kinds of ailments. This got me to thinking about “Arthur”, that visitor which impedes my fingers from doing all they used to do. Which, of course, reminded me of my Scot-Irish heritage. These are the folk who in 1610 became part of the King of England’s “Great Settlement” [also known as the “King’s Plantation”]. This was an attempt by King James to gain and maintain control of those Irish who were not Protestant. After about one hundred years, becoming dissatisfied and crowded, they began emigrating in large numbers to English Colonies. My Scot-Irish did so to America. As far as I can discern, these were superstitious folk who believed and held in high regard, weather signs, nature lore, omens and family customs, thus holding onto the use of their remedies for ailments. Grandma Oliver held one from her youth. She said the girls needing extra iron for their systems would put iron nails into glasses of water and when there was enough rust they would drink it. Somewhere I have read that more than twenty-five percent of our medications today come from nature’s chemicals. Thus, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that medical folk lore having been passed down for centuries is still accepted as fact today. And, you know how hard it is to get these stubborn folk to change from these old remedies to modern medicine. These backwoodsmen used many plants to provide the basic ingredients that were used in medicines and remedies. And, if I remember correctly, there seemed to be a belief among my ancestors, passed down again for many generations, that to be effective the concoction had to be obnoxious and distasteful. In fact, the more distasteful, the more powerful or effective, such as those awful ‘plasters’ they put on my throat and/or chest to rid ‘deep chest’ colds. Patent medicines still use some of these ‘nature’s’ materials. Wild cherry bark boiled for cough medicine I believe is one I remember from boyhood. From the James Harriet stories, I remember an episode where ‘Vet’nary Mr Harriot’ was given a meal of ‘fatback’ or ‘sowbelly’ which was to prevent stomach problems. Sassafras, horehound and pennyroyal were all used as teas to treat coughs. To this day when I get a coughing ‘fit’ during the night I get up and take a piece of horehound candy and suck on it. I do this even knowing that today’s horehound candy only has a very mild flavor of the candy I remember as a child. Further, I remember that Grandma Lester used to put honey in the horehound tea to cut the taste and sooth the throat. Grandpa Lester[?] would obtain red cedar leaves and stems. Grandma would boil them and he’d inhale them when he had a ‘deep’ cough. Willow leaves were boiled into a tea and used to break fevers. In my college chemistry class I learned that willows contained salicylic acid, better known as aspirin. When I was a teen in the forests and swamps of coastal North Carolina, pine pitch from the white pine was used to aid in healing wounds and sores. Hemlock was used to stop bleeding from cuts. I suspect it might have been the tannin in the bark. And somewhere I have read that tannin was good for burns. My American ancestors brought with them their traditions and were quick to pick up or adapt the ways of the Native Indians, particularly the Cherokee. I remember one such remedy for warts. Take a kernel of corn and rub it over the wart. Then wrap it up and put, by the light of the full moon, at the point of a crossroads. Part of this treatment was knowing that if someone picked the kernel up the wart would be passed on to them. From my files of the ‘cure for ailments’ comes some ‘cures’ I have not researched for reasons or effectiveness; just collected. Black chickens must produce superstitious qualities, for two uses for such animals says that the blood of a black chicken will cure shingles if rubbed on them. I never had the courage to suggest that when my wife had them. Along the same line, black chickens flying over one with shingles after the sun has set brings ‘out’ chickenpox. It used to be feared that one would die if the ‘pox’ went in instead of coming out. Grandma Oliver use to say that rubbing the hair of new borns with camphor would keep them from losing their hair. Stomach aches could be prevented by wearing the root of rhubarb around one’s neck. To prevent colds, hang red onions from the bedposts. It never worked for me, however, when I was a tad of a lad, someone told me that carrying a buckeye in my pocket would prevent rheumatism. If a tooth aches on the left side of your jaw, tie a string around the ‘little’ toe of your right foot. The opposite for a ‘right side ache’. Another tooth remedy is to put your opposite hand from the ache into ice water. Vanilla and almond extract works for toothaches. I wonder if it is the high alcohol content that has the effect? They both contain about a third alcohol. I’d choose the almond extract myself – it contains a bit more percentage. If peppermint oil [used in the making of candy] doesn’t work on your toothache it, will be fine for your sinuses’. Warm salt water will aid in subsiding tooth pain. Gargling with salt water will ease the pain of sore throats, as will chlorophyll, bayberry, bistort, cayenne, eucalyptus, fenugreek, horehound, liquorice, lobelia, red sage, spearment, peppermint, wintergreen, witch hazel, and more. And, should all this give you a headache, I’ll look in the file for those cures. Again, Happy New Year folks, and thanks for reading. e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-WI NV-WA-do-hi-ya NV-WA-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- 1112 PostScript: "Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives ..." Alexander McCall Smith, Dream Angus Archived articles: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=ilmassac