Re: [ranchos] old world remedies

[Joseph Puentes <makas@...>]

thank you Linda for the wonderful story of your gr-grandma Tula. . 
.great story about her skills and knowledge. We have truly lost a lot of 
knowledge when our old people pass away without trying to learn as much 
as can from them.
My Grandmother Virginia Diaz (dob: Dec 15, 1886 Las Animas, Jalisco) was 
a curandera of sorts. She knew some medicines but not as in depth as 
I've heard others describe, but she did learn the art of midwifery. I 
heard a story of how my sister went into labor and was going to the 
hospital but stopped by to see my Grandma on the way. My Grandmother 
said that the child was improperly positioned and if my sister wanted 
her to repositon the child. Of course my sister said yes and by a series 
of hand manipulations with my sister laying in a blanket that was being 
pulled to put pressure on my sisters stomach the child was persuaded to 
reposition properly. My sister said that she then went on to the 
hospital and had a very very easy birth considering it was her first.
probably everyday in Mexico great wealths of information and knowledge 
are passing with our old people.
joseph

Erlinda Castanon-Long wrote:

> it would seem the the women of the world over time 
> developed "traditions" that worked to keep them healthier, happier 
> and connected with other women.  Birth control didn't exist as we 
> know it and large families were the rule both by religion and by 
> economics in Mexico. It sounds like 40 days worked the world over.
> My fathers aunt was a midwife in the district of Jerez Zacatecas.  
> She learned her trade from her mother, Gertrudis Caldera (1869).  It 
> was a mixture of religion and Indian medicines.  If someone died, 
> she knew all the litanies by heart and was always called and never 
> failed to go, she spend hours teaching her daughter to recite them 
> by heart too. In El Durazno she was also the one who directed 
> preparing the body for burial.  She delivered babies, fixed aches 
> and pains, gave us Yuerba-Buena for tummy aches and had a remedy for 
> everything. She was a blend of superstitious and religious. In doing 
> the genealogy I find her Garcia ancestors were Indio and her Alcala 
> ancestors were Mulato/Indio.  It's no wonder that she was the result 
> of 3 cultures.. I was 5 when Gr-grandma Tula died but still her 
> legacy lives on when the family gets together at reunions and shares 
> stories she told about her life in Mexico before immigrating in 1916 
> because of the revolution.
> Linda in Wa.
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