Folklore in Medicine.
Folklore refers to the traditional beliefs, legends, sayings etc of a people i.e. of England. It is often said that folklore medicine is now going 'out' but in my opinion this is wrong as I work in a chemist and the amount of so called "folk," "natural," "alternative," "traditional," "home" "organic" "holistic" and "other" medicines and therapies sold is astounding. Admittedly the whole 'magical' element behind it all is gone for most people as it was believed that diseases and ailments were caused by evil spirits or angry gods but most of these opinions are still held by the supposed 'uneducated' tribes people. But yet again some people who still hold 'pagan' beliefs do believe that it is the planets that cause some diseases.
Although we no longer believe in 'medicine men', 'shamans' and 'witch doctors' in the west we still have many deep seated superstitions, rituals and some medical practices that have been taken from our murky past. Such things as saying bless you when we sneeze originate from a time when it was believed that a sneeze was your soul attempting to escape your body and by saying 'bless you' you some how stopped it! Even things such as funerals are believed to be based around a ritual that prehistoric man used to carry out. And if it hadn't been for the inquisitive Greeks searching for the seat of the soul in the human body we may still not have discovered s much as we know now about human anatomy. Even medieval practices such as leaching have now been shown to actually have some medical value.
Folklore refers to the traditional beliefs, legends, sayings etc of a people i.e. of England. It is often said that folklore medicine is now going 'out' but in my opinion this is wrong as I work in a chemist and the amount of so called "folk," "natural," "alternative," "traditional," "home" "organic" "holistic" and "other" medicines and therapies sold is astounding. Admittedly the whole 'magical' element behind it all is gone for most people as it was believed that diseases and ailments were caused by evil spirits or angry gods but most of these opinions are still held by the supposed 'uneducated' tribes people. But yet again some people who still hold 'pagan' beliefs do believe that it is the planets that cause some diseases.
Although we no longer believe in 'medicine men', 'shamans' and 'witch doctors' in the west we still have many deep seated superstitions, rituals and some medical practices that have been taken from our murky past. Such things as saying bless you when we sneeze originate from a time when it was believed that a sneeze was your soul attempting to escape your body and by saying 'bless you' you some how stopped it! Even things such as funerals are believed to be based around a ritual that prehistoric man used to carry out. And if it hadn't been for the inquisitive Greeks searching for the seat of the soul in the human body we may still not have discovered s much as we know now about human anatomy. Even medieval practices such as leaching have now been shown to actually have some medical value.
