The Mapuches are one of those ancestral cultures that demonstrate the process of intelligence development through the ages; which allows us to evaluate the quality and scope of different civilizations.
Before getting into the issue of Mapuche medicine and medicinal plants, we have to be clear about the concepts of health and disease among the indigenous people.
For the Mapuches, human life must be in harmony with nature, since any imbalance is a cause of disease; The balance between the natural world and the spiritual world is the most important concept for health care.
For the Mapuche culture, the person in charge of health, both physical and spiritual, is the Machi (healer, healer, priestess, shaman, etc.). This one, who may be a man, but usually they are women, is the healer of his people; She represents a kind of caste and they are very respected.
They are consulted by the members of their tribe, and also by the chiefs (leaders of the indigenous community), to make any important decision, since they are considered spiritual leaders of the tribe.
The main accessory of the Machi, is the cultrum (drum very similar to that used by Siberian shamans), which they always carry with them when they visit their patients.
The medicine they practice is based on the active substance of any plant substance. They give extreme importance to plants that are sacred to them. They are plants of their own action, that is, they possess intrinsic healing properties, such as cinnamon, boldo, ñancolahuén, diaper, etc.
Another practice widely used by the Mapuches to improve health, are thermal cures, natural sources of sulphurous waters; Through thermal baths they relieve rheumatic pains, treat skin and digestive diseases.
Thermal baths are probably the best treatment that has always existed. It relieves joint pains, improves stomach problems and cures skin diseases.
These medicinal waters, used in baths, in vapors or drinkable, enjoy great prestige and acceptance in Mapuche medicine. They also take advantage of the mud from these sulphurous sources to apply them in the form of a compress or poultice. Also the algae that cover the stones around the sources have a great value for medicine, especially for skin treatments (today they can already be found in pharmacies).
The wonderful thing about this information is that currently the properties and benefits of this water, seaweed and thermal mud have been proven scientifically, but let's think that this medicinal practice was already used hundreds of years ago, without having any scientific analysis, just because of the natural wisdom that they possess.
Like the active ingredients of all plant substances; for example: they used chamico flowers (datura stramonium), whose dominant active substance is scopolamine and anthropine, as well as the seeds rich in the same alkaloids and thus obtained a state of semi-unconsciousness necessary to reduce dislocations or small surgeries .
Today science tells us that these plants contain these properties, with which current anesthesia is produced; but they already used it for the same purpose, without having that scientific study.
How not to respect then, these original cultures that beyond having been considered "wild", they are the precursors of, among other things, this alternative medicine.
Since man exists, herbs have been an integral part of his life, but his practical use did not end in his medicinal applications, he also extended to mixtures and protective ointments against evil spirits.
Medicinal herbs have always contributed greatly to human health and still do; Its most obvious value responds to its use as a source of some drugs used in modern medicines.
For example, opium, heroin and morphine are extracted from the poppy; The digitalina is used for heart disease and comes from the leaves of the digital or foxglove plant (abundant in the forests of the Argentine Patagonia).
As we can see, currently all plants have been scientifically valued and their properties are known. A natural medicine at our fingertips. But this ancestral advice must be taken into account:
[quote align = "center" color = "# 999999 ″]" Disease is a manifestation of imbalance between body, mind and spirit. "[/ quote]
And it is that for the Mapuches the balance between the natural world and the spiritual world, are the most important concepts in health care.
Many of the sacred plants for the aborigines, for their miraculous healing properties, are native plants, native to that place; and they are not found in other places in the world. The main pillars of Mapuche medicine are:
Boldo: infallible herbal tea for digestive disorders and other virtues.
Ñancolahuén: high mountain grass, much appreciated for its healing properties, restorative skin, as well as febrifuge and comforting tonic, very similar to ginseng.
The diaper: with its astringent powers, in infusions or external use.
The melico and the paramela: for its aphrodisiac properties.
Plantain: to cure sores, wounds or erosions of the skin.
Chilca: mainly beneficial to relieve gastric ulcers.
Another remedy that is not vegetable, but widely used in this culture is the ostrich crop (dilation of the esophagus that some birds have, including the Patagonian ostrich, which is provided with glands that secrete the first digestive enzymes). The crop, once dissected, is crushed to powder, to add it in small quantities to an infusion that is very effective for impaction, indigestion, stomach pain. Currently it is already available in herbalists and pharmacies.
Another very important herb is mate: its leaves have diuretic properties, conceals the sensation of appetite and is an excitement of the nervous system, although it must be taken in large quantities so that its effects match those of coffee. It is an excellent stimulating, depurative, antioxidant and lowers cholesterol tonic; It is an infusion that has for its properties, a widespread consumption in the country. Drinking mate is a social act, to share with friends.
This is a small part of the medicine of the Mapuche people, inhabitants for centuries of the mythical Patagonian land. They bring in their blood a message of undeniable wisdom: the knowledge of how to live in harmony with that wonderful nature, without degrading or destroying it. It is that millenary knowledge that they express through their art and culture; nourished by the dreams of its people and the memory of its elders.
Mapuche medicine, an ancestral wisdom
Source: http://ciudadesplanetarios.com/author/ciudades-planetarios/
