Our ancestors were people, to put it mildly, eccentric. Well, what, for example, is the belief that the soul of a person, after leaving the body, turns into a fly and still lives for some time in a hut behind icons. Even a separate pancake was prepared for the insect and smeared with honey.
Now you know where we got the tradition of putting a glass and a crumb of bread to a dead person! But today we will talk about traditional medicine and witchcraft. There is also something to be surprised at, believe me!
How do you like this method of therapy, like pushing a baby through a tree. Yes Yes. Such a method really existed among the mad Russians, and even up to the 19th century. Boys were pushed through an oak (male tree), and girls through a birch or aspen (female).
The technology is as follows. If a child was born frail, sickly, rickety, he was tormented by "dryness" (tuberculosis), then one should find a strong living trunk in the grove and cut a gap in it. The Belarusians used the hollows. After that, it was necessary to take the baby, take off his shirt and push through the hole.
Promotional video:
It was believed that the disease would pass into the tree, and the child would be cleansed. After that, fresh clothes were put on him, and the old ones were torn into shreds. She was considered "contagious." Brothers Ukrainians, by the way, stood out here as well. They dragged the child through the bagel. Then the baked goods were thrown away. Whoever eats will get sick. Cases are also described when the Slavs tried to take the disease, as they say, "in fright." The person was mercilessly beaten on the sore spot and loudly threatened to eat the disease if it did not leave the sufferer. (D. K. Zelenin "East Slavic Ethnography")
One of the ways to treat toothache was no less exotic. The witch doctor caught a mole and, in front of the patient's eyes, pressed the animal with the index finger of his right hand, saying “Mole, mole! I put my finger on you, emit your blood and cure their sick teeth! After the animal gave its soul to God, the doctor touched the client's gums and teeth with the same finger, having lubricated his palms in an anesthetic solution in advance. (For example, willow bark infusion has the same effect as aspirin.)
The patient, impressed by the witchcraft ritual, was truly relieved. Then the healer advised the patient to rinse his mouth more often in the morning and before bedtime with sour vinegar. It helped. And I feel sorry for the mole … Here is such a medicine, or rather even magic!
I. P. Sakharov "Tales of the Russian people"
