Topical application as a pomade or plaster is used in 10% of the remedies, while frictioning, preferred with preparations for rheumatisms and arthritis, accounts for two per cent. At the same time, posology is embedded in specific rituals that are performed during the preparation of the remedies, which on the one hand serve to memorize the proper dose, especially when dealing with toxic allelochemicals, and on the other hand contribute to the efficacy of the remedy by invoking supernatural forces and entities related to those rituals and numbers. In the Ozarks sarsaparilla tea is also widely used for its purifying properties.. Another blood purifier that is a very common remedy both in Ozarkia and Haiti, is catnip or catmint. 1959, Port-au-Prince: Imprimeries de L'etat, Pierre-Noel AV: Les plantes et legume d'Haiti qui guerrissent. Inventory of medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. Even though Haitian and Peruvian ritual bathing traditions demonstrate many differences, we note several important themes of similarity: cleanses that involve moving (not stagnant) sacred waters; the application, and at times ingestion, of medicinal plants and flowers; and the act of being bathed by a spiritual elder to cultivate greater . The data presented in this paper are derived from a wider study that was conducted on the ethnobiological knowledge of Haitian people living in the Province of Camagey. More than half of the plant species reported in that study are also reported in the current study of Haitian immigrants and their descendants. Scientific name, botanical family, vernacular Cuban and Haitian name(s), voucher specimen number, part(s) used, preparation, use(s), and frequency of mention are reported for 123 plant species used for medicinal purposes. They are used to treat rashes in children caused by measles and smallpox (e.g. Throughout the field study, the ethical guidelines adopted by the American Anthropological Association [27] were followed. Haiti is tropical and ginseng and goldenseal need cool, shady forest slopes to grow in. We are a Social Impact (SI) company; we don't focus in making excessive profits, but we primarily . Medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. Afrikanische Arzneipflanzen und Jagdgifte Chemie, Pharmakologie, Toxikologie. Momordica charantia, Solanum americanum and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis are among those species most cited by Haitians in this study. Volpato G, Godnez D: Ethnobotany of Pru, a traditional Cuban refreshment. "The Bible say so. By using this website, you agree to our During the period 19001930, more than half a million Haitians entered the country legally or illegally [6,7]. 10.1016/j.jep.2005.05.018. Google Scholar. Among Haitians, these practices are often related to cosmological/ritual numbers, and plant quantities used in the preparation of the remedies and the timing of administration follow these numbers (mainly three and seven; see also Weniger et al. In reference to therapeutic use, almost half of the remedies are intended to treat gastro-intestinal afflictions (stomach pains, and as digestive and carminative; about 20%) and afflictions of the respiratory system (catarrh, asthma, colds, cough; about 18%). Haitian Plants Medicine - Medicinal Plants and Herbal Remedies Herbal mixtures used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey. 1964, La Habana: Asociacin de Estudiantes de Ciencias Biolgicas, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. [15] and in other studies about traditional Cuban medicine [18,42], their use among Cubans is not as widespread or as differentiated as among Haitian descendants. A few other remedies of non-vegetal origin were also reported. Remedies prepared by heating plant parts in fire (four per cent) are mostly used for topical applications (e.g. They both grow well in Ozark soil which contains a lot of limestone sediment. Medicinal Plants of Haiti With Wilnise - YouTube Creole is the second most spoken language in the Province of Camagey, after Spanish. 2004, 61: 185-204. 10.1016/S0378-8741(98)00031-2. Otherwise, they live in hospices either in Camagey or in smaller cities and villages. The plants cited were photographed, collected with the informants during the interviews, and identified by authors (D.G., A.B., A.B.) DG, AB, and AB performed botanical analysis and species identification. Among Haitians, these practices are often related to cosmological/ritual numbers, and plant quantities used in the preparation of the remedies and the timing of administration follow these numbers (mainly three and seven; see also Weniger et al. Herbal Index. In North Miami Beach, Audrey Rowe stopped by her friend Cacheta Francis house to pick some cerasee growing in the backyard. Conversely, and to a lesser extent, Haitians contributed to what is today considered as traditional Cuban medicine by introducing into the dominant Cuban community certain specific ethnobotanical practices and uses of plants, as described also in Volpato et al. Conversely, and to a lesser extent, Haitians contributed to what is today considered as traditional Cuban medicine by introducing into the dominant Cuban community certain specific ethnobotanical practices and uses of plants, as described also in Volpato et al. Plants of Haiti used as antifertility agents - ScienceDirect [12], Nevet and de la Rosa [9], and Pedro [10]. New York: Paragon, 1989. Remedies shared between Haitian immigrants and their descendants and the Cuban population are mainly the result of the presence of shared ethnobotanical knowledge before migration took place, but as well reflect adoption by Haitian immigrants of plants and/or uses from the dominant Cuban pharmacopoeia and, to a lesser extent, vice versa. Also, cricket's (genus Acheta and Neoconocaephalus) legs are boiled in water and the decoction is then drunk by children and older people who have urination problems. In contrast, the use of the same species with different medicinal purposes may be the result of migrant's adoption of some species through experimentation with plants found in the new environment (e.g. (Jordan, 726) Nonetheless, catnip is such a good all-purpose herb it is no surprise that it shares equal popularity in Haiti as it does in the hill country of Missouri and Arkansas. Traditional Haitian medicine retained an important role in healthcare and cultural practices soon after immigration, when Haitian livelihoods were based on work in the sugarcane fields, on the surrounding environment, and on their knowledge about that environment. Hernndez J: Uso popular de plantas con fines medicinales. Naomie Phillis, 50, sells traditional herbal medicine in Ption-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The plants cited were photographed, collected with the informants during the interviews, and identified by authors (D.G., A.B., A.B.) Also, in the anthelmintic use of Chenopodium ambrosioides, we can distinguish a posology for acute episodes (three buds every day before breakfast for three or seven days), and a posology for chronic infection (e.g. The Province of Camagey is located between 2031'01" and 2229'00" latitude North and 7657'00" longitude West from Greenwich. CAS Nez N, Gonzlez E: Antecedentes etnohistricos de la alimentacin tradicional en Cuba. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food as Medicine. Parentesco, inmigracin y comunidad Una visin del caso haitiano. Some locals say that Voodoo succeeds where modern . Beyra A, Len M, Iglesias E, Ferrndiz D, Herrera R, Volpato G, Godinez D, Guimarais M, Alvarez R: Estudios etnobotnicos sobre plantas medicinales en la provincia de Camagey (Cuba). Most Haitians were illiterate, crowded into barracks (barracones), paid a miserable salary, and compelled to hand over their savings to reimburse the cost of their passage [7, 9]. Five formulas have been reported as miel de gira (siw kalbaz in Creole), whose main ingredient is the fruit of Crescentia cujete. Nowadays Haitians are mostly integrated into mainstream Cuban society, although many of them maintain a small-scale farming and livestock production as a base for their livelihoods. Esquivel M, Hammer K: The Cuban homegarden 'conuco': a perspective environment for evolution and in situ conservation of plant genetic resources. This use of cricket's legs has been also reported by Hernndez and Volpato [19] in their article about the medicinal mixtures of Eastern Cuba, as well as by Seoane [16] in his treatise on Cuban medical folklore. Sister Francis is a religious woman whose backyard is filled with the healing bushes she grew up using in Jamaica. Our purpose was to list the plants held to be antifertility agents in the island. Traveling Plants and Cultures The Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacy of Migrations. Springer Nature. Among these, there are plants that are important medicinals for Haitians, such as Artemisia absinthium, Phyllanthus procerus, and Priva lappulacea, as well as culturally relevant Haitian food plants that are also used in the realm of traditional medicine, such as Abelmoschus esculentus, Cajanus cajan, Corchorus siliquosus, and Xanthosoma sagittifolium, and some species used for ritual and religious baths such as Allophylus cominia, Alpinia speciosa, and Vitex trifolia. Ethnomedicinal knowledge of Haitian immigrants in Cuba presents no exception [14]. PubMed Some touristic infrastructures (notably in Camagey city and Santa Luca beach) have been developed in the last decade [26]. Baths are also prepared to rid people of the 'bad' and the 'evil eye', a practice known in Afro-Cuban religions as despojo [34, 35], mainly using species such as Vitex trifolia, Trichilia glabra, Alpinia speciosa, Allophyllus cominia. 105 e/ngel y Pobre, Camagey, Cuba, Daimy Godnez,Angela Beyra&Adelaida Barreto, You can also search for this author in But, says Davis, "there were a lot of problems with the Datura hypothesis. only with the new moon [42]), where the remedy is ingested periodically throughout the year. PubMedGoogle Scholar. Uses of medicinal plants by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. [25]). Cash-strapped Haitians find Voodoo a cheaper alternative to traditional Other therapeutic uses treat afflictions of the reproductive apparatus (menstrual disorders, ovary pain, vaginal infections, as an aphrodisiac; about 9%), skin afflictions (wounds, burns, rashes; about 9%), helminth worm infections (about 7%), and renal afflictions (diuretic, depurative; about 7%). Nevertheless, some culturally relevant products such as dried or fresh specimens of Artemisia absinthium and fruits and seeds of Abelmoschus esculentus were brought to Cuba upon migration (Figure 2). About 40% of the total population of the province lives in the city of Camagey; almost 200,000 people live in rural areas. CERES Research School, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, NL-6706, Wageningen, the Netherlands, CIMAC, Centro de Investigaciones de Medio Ambiente de Camagey, Cuba. Goat feces are dried, powdered, mixed with olive oil and applied topically for burns, while packages made of urine and cotton are applied to the back of the heads of children with fever. Accessibility Davis had found Datura growing in Haiti. 1953, La Habana: Contribuciones Ocasionales del Museo de Historia Natural Colegio La Salle 10, P. Fernndez and Ca, Len H, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. Information was obtained . In these contexts, the main forces that drive change in the cultural domain of traditional medicinal knowledge are: (1) the adaptation of the original knowledge to the new (host) environment (through substitution of no longer accessible traditional remedies with locally available ones, and the incorporation of remedies from the host culture into migrants' own pharmacopoeia); and (2) the development of strategies to obtain the original remedies (through cultivation, gathering, or marketing of the original remedies, and the development of social networks that link migrants to relatives and friends in the place of origin) [47, 48]. Rowe and Francis are both Jamaican. Although no census of Haitians (residents or descendants) in Cuba has been done to date, we can roughly estimate the number of Haitians and their descendants in the Province of Camagey at about 50,000 or 67% of the population. Etnologa y Folklore. Edited by: Pieroni A, Vandebroek I. Different plant species are added to the basic preparation according to the specific medicinal purpose for which it is prepared: for example, Cissus spp. Chemical Ecology. But quinine is a chemical salt that can cause violent reactions, unlike gentle verbena. Across the yard is a towering shrub with yellow flower clusters shapedlike a candle. The European slave owners were not without their healing knowledge, too. Miel de gira is considered as a panacea, and its use is apparently widespread among Cuban and Cuban-Haitian populations as a preventive and a remedy, when it is taken in small spoons in doses of from one to five spoons per day [16]. Prez de la Riva J: Cuba y la migracin antillana. We identified about twenty species more Before the advent of modern medicine, women had to rely on herbal cures for a variety of ailments and symptoms associated with their reproductive symptoms. One natural remedy that can be made from the plants and herbs in your herb garden is a frustration painkiller called Echinacea. Among the Haitians interviewed, 21 migrated to Cuba between 19131926, ten are the offspring of Haitian couples who entered Cuba during the same period, and three more left Haiti between 19461954. 2006, Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 213-235. Loma Linda, CA: Back to Eden Books, 1987. The rapid disappearance of Haitian migrants' traditional culture due to integration and urbanization suggests that unrecorded ethnomedicinal information may be lost forever. The research led to the identification of 123 different plant species used for medicinal purposes by Haitians and their descendants in the Province of Camagey. Baths are also prepared to rid people of the 'bad' and the 'evil eye', a practice known in Afro-Cuban religions as despojo [34,35], mainly using species such as Vitex trifolia, Trichilia glabra, Alpinia speciosa, Allophyllus cominia. Special thanks are due to all of the Haitian respondents and their families for their kindness and for agreeing to share their knowledge with us, with oral consent being provided for figure figure2;2; to the members of the Asociacin de Haitianos de Camagey; to Patricia Howard for her commentaries and suggestions. Although medicinal uses of these plants are not absent from the Cuban pharmacopoeia, they may in some cases be restricted to Haitian descendants and to Cubans who have been influenced by the migrants' culture. Chemie, Pharmakologie, Toxikologie. Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. The Secrets of Haiti's Living Dead | Harvard Magazine She learned from her mother, who learned from her mother, who learned from her mother and so on. Generally, decoction is used for hard and ligneous parts, including coriaceous leaves, while infusion is used only for soft leaves and shoots, especially from aromatic plants (e.g. More than 50% of the mixtures are used to treat afflictions of the respiratory system. Brandon G: The uses of plants in healing in an Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria. Because of the importation of workers for plantation slavery, a vast body of knowledge departed Africa for the New World. Su estudio en la ciudad de Santiago de Cuba. Topical application as a pomade or plaster is used in 10% of the remedies, while frictioning, preferred with preparations for rheumatisms and arthritis, accounts for two per cent. (Colon, 154).. leaves applied to the forehead to treat headache). News reports immediately following the disaster documented displaced Haitians sitting . Haitians were concentrated in the sugarcane and coffee areas of the former provinces of Oriente and Camagey (Figure 1). All of the mints have the effect of soothing indigestion and quieting nausea. Although in the recent past there has been an increase in ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal investigations in Cuba [15-19], these have generally not paid attention to the specific ethnic knowledge that immigrants have contributed to traditional Cuban medicine. Today we have black-eyed peas, sesame seeds and peanuts in the Americas because slaves brought them along on the middle passage. Exceptions to this are the works of Brutus and Pierre-Noel, Len, and Weniger et al. These mixtures can be more or less complex, ranging from a concoction of two plants to complex preparations with different species. Canella winterana, Pimenta dioica) are added to preparations with stomachic purposes. Additional file 1 Medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba.Inventory of medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. The magic . Ozark people are surely not as impoverished as Haitians and they have better access to doctors and hospitals, but the majority of improvements to this area of Missouri have come within the past fifty years, and before that time, an old-fashioned way of curing one's ills was the tradition. Our purpose was to list the plants held to be antifertility agents in the island. Fuentes V: Sobre la medicina tradicional en Cuba. I soon learned however that Caribbean folk medicine cannot be studied without comparing it to African-American practices. Among the shared ethnobotanical practices is also the preparation of miel de gira with the pulp of the fruit of Crescentia cujete. Trusted Source. The Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacy of Migrations. The plant parts used include: leaves and aerial parts (53.5% as a whole), young leaves and shoots (9.7%), seeds and fruits (8.4% each), roots and tubers (7.7% as a whole), bark (4%), stems (3%), flowers (2.3%), rhizomes (1.3%), and resins and bulbs (0.6% each). Often, a decoction of leaves and aerial parts is prepared, sometimes in combinations of different species, and left to cool, or otherwise these vegetal parts are smashed and directly added to the bath water. Boil and simmer until the water turns a murky greenish brown. 1991, 22: 55-76. Traditional and ritual plant posology should be investigated in more depth in ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological studies in order to understand their relation with medicinal plant efficacy and toxicity. Calle Cisneros No. GUID:FB7A69D3-5F4B-4A23-86B2-F73B140ADACB. The vervain plant is a lesser-known herbal remedy, but it has a lengthy history of medicinal use when it comes to a variety of systems in the body . Privacy De Smet PAGM: Traditional pharmacology and medicine in Africa. Additional file 1 lists the plant species cited by informants in alphabetical order according to their scientific name, along with their botanical families, vernacular Cuban and Haitian names (as reported by informants during the fieldwork), voucher specimen numbers, parts used, preparation of the remedies, medicinal use, and frequency of mention. Volpato G, Ahmadi Emhamed A, Lamin Saleh SM, Broglia A, Di Lello S: Procurement of traditional remedies and transmission of medicinal knowledge among Sahrawi people displaced in Southwestern Algerian refugee camps. Estudio etnobotnico I. Revista Cubana de Farmacia. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Edited by Liz O. Baylen and Mike Benoist. Haitian's knowledge about plants seems to comprehend and deal with toxic allelochemicals through specific posological practices. Once in the field, we asked for the help of the local government officers responsible for health (doctors or nurses from the local hospital) to determine whether there were any elderly Haitians living in the locality and precisely where. 1997, Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. Senna is the main ingredient in many modern day American laxatives. The Origins of Human Diet and Medicine Chemical Ecology. Echinacea can be taken numerous times a day, as recommended by an herbalist. People who migrated in the 1920s generally sailed to eastern Cuba looking for jobs on the sugarcane plantations to improve their living conditions and support their families in Haiti. Migrants confront a different sociocultural context and new environments where specific plants may no longer be available and traditional practices may come under pressure and therefore may be progressively adapted or abandoned [46]. Vetiver, Chrysopogon zizanioides, is a perennial grass native to India, where it is known as khus or the oil of tranquility, but it is produced mainly in Haiti, Java, and Runion. (Laguerre, 68) By a mental process Laguerre terms cognitive mapping, Haitians seem to have a highly developed instinctual sense of their bodies, their circulatory systems particularly. More than 50% of the mixtures are used to treat afflictions of the respiratory system. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Cultural aspects related to traditional plant posology are addressed, as well as changes and adaptation of Haitian medicinal knowledge with emigration and integration over time. Fuentes V: Las plantas medicinales en Cuba. Given this, as well as the poor availability of ethnobotanical data relating to traditional Haitian medicine, there is an urgent need to record this knowledge. Volpato G, Godnez D, Beyra A: Migration and ethnobotanical practices: The case of tifey among Haitian immigrants in Cuba. Data also suggest that culturally relevant plants (those cited by more informants and with a greater number of uses) are often used in different qualitative ways by migrants and hosts. 1998, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba: Editorial Oriente, Creole Language and Culture: Part of Cuba's Cultural Patrimony. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. following Len [28], Len and Alain [2931] and Alain [32, 33]. Bidens pilosa, Cymbopogon citratus, Majorana hortensis, Ocimum spp.). Everyone calls Francis Sister Francis because shes a respected elder. For example, three shoots of Mangifera indica are boiled and the remedy is drunk in three different cups to treat empacho, a digestive problem; three leaves of Cissampelos pareira are split into half and three halves are boiled in the case of fever; an infusion made from three whorls or tops of Stachytarpheta jamaicensis is prepared and given to children in the morning on an empty stomach as an anthelmintic; the decoction of three leaves of Momordica charantia must be drunk for three days, and the seeds of the same plant are ingested one on the first day, two on the second, and three on the third, and so on for seven days. My mom comes from a line of Haitian women herbalists fromGonaives, Haiti. Among the peoples of African origin who settled in Cuba throughout the centuries, Haitians played an important role shaping Cuban culture and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. Those who arrived in the 1940s came either by plane or boat, although they were migrating mostly for the same reasons. Besides single medicinal plants, 22 herbal mixtures, mostly prepared as a concoction of plants or plant parts, are reported. Children's baths prepared with anthelmintic plants (e.g. 2007, Oxford: Berghahn, 245-269. "You know the herb is the healing of the nation," she said. 1951, La Habana: Contribuciones Ocasionales del Museo de Historia Natural Colegio La Salle 10, P. Fernndez and Ca, Len H, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. I was fortunate to have three solid sources of information on herbs in Haiti: Laguerre's Afro-Caribbean Folk Medicine, Colon's Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants in the Province of Pedernales, Santo Domingo, and Jordan's Voodoo Medicine. A few other remedies of non-vegetal origin were also reported. The site is secure. Viladrich A: Between bellyaches and lucky charms. Hernndez J. Uso popular de plantas con fines medicinales. They are used to treat rashes in children caused by measles and smallpox (e.g. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Revista Cubana de Alimentacin y Nutricin. 1984, La Habana: Editora Ciencias Sociales. Haitian ethnobotanical practices related to traditional posology often follow cosmological/ritual numbers, both for plant quantities and timing of administration. The practice of using herbal baths both as physical and spiritual medicine is similar to other ethnic groups [37, 38]; as well, baths are very important in general in traditional health systems based on Afro-American religions [39], and their use among Haitians can be regarded at the same time as magical, spiritual, and medicinal. The present investigation shows that Haitian migrants and their descendants living in the Province of Camagey (Cuba) have medicinal uses for 123 plant species belonging to 112 genera in 63 families. Ethnobotanical knowledge is dynamic for any given culture and it changes as it is transferred and appropriated by people who are adapting to new environments [44,45]. Juice extraction is mostly used for green parts and is preferred over decoction and infusion for topical applications. In my research, I discovered three herbs that are used for female problems both in Haiti and Ozarkia.