It has been identified that illnesses from 'magical' or spiritual causes can be cured by means of either oral formulae together with biological and non-biological material (used as medicines or applied as ritual objects) or oral formulae with Western pharmaceutical products.
Among these the most common are those which pircantari or ciarmari i vermi where 'pircantari' means to recite a spell to keep away the bad spirits which carry disease, and 'ciarmari i vermi' means to carry out magical practises to cure children of worms.
The research highlights how even nowadays, in Sicily, above all in some inland areas and rural communities, an illness like helminthiasis is still considered 'magical' according to some popular beliefs and is cured by either remedies from medicine and folk herbal preparations, or by certain practises (of 'healers') like prayers or 'medicinal spells'. This work, carried out by the Botany Department of the University of Catania, forms part of a series of ethnobotanical investigations in several zones of Eastern Sicily (Mount Etna ) North-Eastern (Nebrodi Mountains ) South-Eastern Sicily (Caltagirone and Ragusa), North-Central Sicily (Madonie mountains) and South-Central Sicily (Caltanisetta). Anthony's fire, burns, scalding and marine fungal infections, by smearing his saliva over the infected part and reciting 'special words'. He is not paid except in kind and has been known to cure St. It is significant to report a piece: on 14 October 2007 the news on a well-known national Italian TV channel reported an interview with a 94 year-old man from Arbatax (Sardinia) referred to as a 'healer' because both his townspeople and others from all over the world go to him for his cures. Interest in these practises from ancestral heritage in an advanced country like Italy, is only relevant if the aim is to recoup a cultural identity which is already in decline. However, in certain social classes, there is no real collaboration between conventional and folk medicine so for some senior citizens, the 'healer' with his rituals and empirical and magical herbs is still the person to turn to for the 'cure' of particular ailments. As regards health/illness, it should be noted that in the last ten years conventional medicine has provided very satisfactory results even resolving potentially mortal pathologies.
0 kommentar(er)
