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FAMSI © 2007: Vania Smith-Oka |
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Traditional Medicine Among the Nahua: Contemporary and Ancient Medicinal Plants Health and Illness among the Nahua The Nahuas of this region have traditionally viewed illness and health as dynamic changes in the body. Health is maintained when the body is kept in equilibrium and illness comes about when this equilibrium is lost (Ortiz de Montellano 1987; Sandstrom 1991; Signorini and Lupo 1989; Viesca Treviño 1986). The most common causes of disease for the present-day Nahua are spirits called ehecatl. These spirits can enter the body of a person and bring misfortune, illness, or even death. This etiological concept can be easily associated with the folk causation of malos aires (harmful/evil airs) found in much of Mesoamerica.
The treatment for illness among the Nahua consists of a series of techniques for removing the offending spirit from the patient's body, which consist of complex rituals where a combination of prayers, invocations, medicinal plants, and anthropomorphic cut paper figurines is used. An important part of the ritual is a barrida – ritual cleansing – by which the body is cleansed of the disease-causing spirits (Figure 2, shown above). The healing specialist will restore the balance by removing the spirit from a person's body. Offerings are made to the offending spirits who are coaxed from the body and exhorted to leave (Figure 3 and Figure 4, shown below).
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