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Relationship Between Folklore & Healthcare HSCI 494 By Maggie…
Relationship Between
Folklore & Healthcare
HSCI 494
By Maggie Sorensen
Treatments & Remedies
Herbs/Plants
Slavic
dental patients would use various herbal treatments for dental care, including myrrh, pine resin (pitch), oak galls/oak apples, plantains, bloodroot, echinacea, essential oils, and more.
Several different
Native American
tribes utilized herbs and plants to heal medical ailments, and some still do today
Guatemalans
from urban regions utilize herbs for treatments; they use "...dried herbs, roots, and seeds for making 'teas' and compresses" (Solien de Gonzalez, 1964).
Spirituality/Beliefs/Religiosity
Beng
or
Bizuze
- Evil spirits which the
Gypsies
had believed caused illness; could exist in various animal forms, or as a giant, or a headless chimney cleaner (Gunda, n.d.).
Spirituality & religion were extremely important to Italian folklore; several items were included in
Italian
folklore
healing methods
Healing methods included: saints, pilgrimages, holy water/blessed oil, blessings, religious objects, contact, signs, formulas, and the religious calendar.
In the
Balkan States,
monastics proved to be an example of how seamlessly intertwined religion and medicine can be; monastics "used both Latin medical texts and scriptures."
In ancient
Greek and Roman cultures,
dreams were analyzed with importance to the cultures' medicine**
Two categories of dreams: (1) Asclepieia and (2) Amfiaraeia (Laios, et. al., 2016).
"These dreams were the essential element for healing in this form of religious medicine, because after pilgrims underwent purifications, they went to sleep in a special dwelling of the sanctuaries called "
enkoimeterion
" (Greek: the place to sleep) so that the healing god would come to their dreams either to cure them or to suggest treatment" (Laios, et. al., 2016).
Important Figures in Ancient Medicine
Hippocrates
Hippocratic Medicine
Four humors & four temperaments
Humors
: Black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood
Temperaments
: sanguine (optimistic leader-like), choleric (bad-tempered, irritable), melancholic (analytical, quiet), and phlegmatic (relaxed, peaceful). (Swope, 2022).
"Hippocrates codified modern model of medical practitioners" (Swope, 2022).
Hippocratic oath - "Duties over rights." Adopted by the Christians; beliefs of oath still hold today.
Galen
Surgeon in Rome; performed on Roman soldiers;
wrote influential medical texts, and "innovated cataract surgery" (CrashCourse, 2018).
Galen expanded upon ideas from Aristotle & Hippocrates, and also formulated "detailed notes on human anatomy drawn from experience" (CrashCourse, 2018).
Noted as "the Roman Empire's Greatest Physician."
Ancient Greek Deities
Chiron
- "converted medicine from magic to a practical art of therapeutics" (Giarelli, 2015).
Asclepios
- Son of Apollo; his disciples built the first known hospitals; resurrected a patient from death (Giarelli, 2015).
Apollo
- Possesses healing abilities & can cast diseases
(Giarelli, 2015).
Artemis
- Apollo's twin sister; protector of fertility; possesses the ability to heal & cast
women's
diseases (Giarelli, 2015).
Impact on Present-Day Healthcare
Hippocratic Oath - still recognized and followed today
Domus Christi Pharmacy -1st pharmacy to serve community. Now pharmacies exist virtually everywhere that modern medicine is practiced
Some people from different cultures
today
prefer receiving non-modern treatments over modern medicine
The understanding of cultural competency is
critical
for healthcare students, so that proper care can be administered while having the patients' needs & desires be accommodated for.
Extensive knowledge in folklore and differing cultures helps healthcare professionals & students to understand cultural diversity & competency - this creates a vast improvement in the delivery of modern medicine and quality of patient care
Two Additional References
Laios, K., Moschos, M. M., Koukaki, E., Vasilopoulos, E., Karamanou, M., Kontaxaki, M. I., & Androutsos, G. (2016). Dreams in ancient Greek Medicine.
Psychiatrike = Psychiatriki, 27
(3), 215–221.
https://doi.org/10.22365/jpsych.2016.273.215
Solien De Gonzalez, N.L. (1964). Beliefs and practices concerning medicine and nutrition among lower-class urban Guatemalans.
Am J Public Health Nations Health. 54
(10):1726-34. doi:10.2105/ajph.54.10.1726
