Fuentes V: Sobre la medicina tradicional en Cuba. Canella winterana, Pimenta dioica) are added to preparations with stomachic purposes. The Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacy of Migrations. The species belong to 112 genera and 63 families, with a prevalence of Annona and Citrus (three species each) among the genera, and among the families of Fabaceae (9.8%), Asteraceae (6.5%), Euphorbiaceae and Verbenaceae (4.9%), Lamiaceae and Rutaceae (3.3%). All of the slaves traded their expertise in healing because of the plantation milieu and dire necessity in staying alive. We aim to make significant improvements in the health of the Haitian population while keeping our company strong. The Haitian herbalist and her Ozark counterpart share a similarity: they both gather and use herbs because of necessity. "The Bible say so. "y tienen faxones y fabas muy diversos de los nuestros" Origin, Evolution and Diversity of Cuban Plant Genetic Resources. Baths are the second more important category of means of application at almost 16% of the total. Brutus TC, Pierre-Noel AV: Les plantes et legumes d'Haiti qui guerrissent. They are used to treat rashes in children caused by measles and smallpox (e.g. She belongs to an unofficial club of Caribbean folks around South Florida who pick bushes from other peoples front yards and the side of the road. Her go-to cure-all medicinal plant is asosi, also called cerasee or corailee in the English-speaking Caribbean. Revealing Latinos' plant-healing knowledge and practices in New York City. 10.1663/0013-0001(2004)058[0381:EOPATC]2.0.CO;2. But sarsaparilla is a root that is used medicinally both in Haiti and the Ozarks. 1988, Universidad de La Habana, Tesis de grado de Candidato a Doctor en Ciencias Biolgicas. This paper focuses on traditional medicinal plant uses of Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. around Central Brasil, Minas in the North of the Province and Central Haiti in the South). Partly it . 2005, Managua & Santo Domingo: TRAMIL, 2. Once they found themselves in Cuba, the main strategies that Haitian migrants used to maintain their ethnomedicinal practices depended principally on the floristic similarity between Haiti and Cuba (i.e. Shes 81. But, says Davis, "there were a lot of problems with the Datura hypothesis. 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). Throughout the field study, the ethical guidelines adopted by the American Anthropological Association [27] were followed. Here Kloss seems to be hinting in his 1939 publication that vervain can be used to cause abortion. Neuwinger HD: Afrikanische Arzneipflanzen und Jagdgifte. Accessibility The Province of Camagey is located between 2031'01" and 2229'00" latitude North and 7657'00" longitude West from Greenwich. Medicinal plants and cultural variation across Dominican Rural, Urban, and Transnational Landscapes. 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]. FOIA Often this practice is associated with a ritual acknowledgement of the plant and its power, by leaving a coin in the place where leaves have been collected, or by adding a coin to the bath and later leaving it at road crossing. 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. and transmitted securely. Vervain is a popular remedy due to its multiple plant-beneficial compounds. Haitian migrants played an important role shaping Cuban culture and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. Informants reported using 123 plant species belonging to 112 genera in 63 families. (Kloss, 300; Laguerre, 30). Before you rub yourself with it, Sister Francis instructed, youwash it and rub it all over where the itching is.. 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Besides single medicinal plants, 22 herbal mixtures, mostly prepared as a concoction of plants or plant parts, are reported. 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. More than 50% of the mixtures are used to treat afflictions of the respiratory system. Toxicologic aspects of voodoo in Haiti - PubMed PubMedGoogle Scholar. Afro-Caribbean pharmacopoeia is that body of knowledge and practices around medicinal plants which finds its origins in the cultures of African slaves brought to the Caribbean [50]. 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. For example, a small spoonful of the hairs of the fruits of Mucuna pruriens is mixed with Psidium guayaba jam and ingested before breakfast for three days; the massive diarrhea that follows is supposed to eliminate all worms from the gut and the stomach, as reported also by Seoane [16]. Camagey, La Habana). In some Caribbean grocery stores and health food stores,cerasee is sold in tea bags or dried. (PDF) Uses of medicinal plants by Haitian immigrants and their Davis had found Datura growing in Haiti. A fresh pot of cerasee or asosi tea, a traditional plant used across the Caribbean for all ailments. Many Haitians are believer of "remed fey" or "bush medicine". Uses of medicinal plants by Haitian immigrants and their - PubMed ). Given the availability of medicinal plants in the surrounding environment, for some species at least, the use of fresh plants may present the advantage of preserving more active compounds and consequently enhancing their absorption and effectiveness. 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. In: Hammer K, Esquivel M, Knpffer H, editor. " GV, DG, AB, and AB carried out interviews and collected data in the field. Brandon G. The uses of plants in healing in an Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria. This figure is based on a comparison with data from another province that also absorbed much Haitian migration to Cuba, the Province of Guantanamo [13]. Respondents in the city of Camagey were located thanks to the local Haitian Association. Although they are also reported in Beyra et al. Rowe said growing up in Jamaica people used to tell pregnant women that if they wanted their babies to be born with pretty brown skin, they should drink cerasee. The tea is bitter. What I found was that even though Haiti has many native tropical plants that are used medicinally, quite a few of the same medicinal plants grow there that do in the Ozarks. The European slave owners were not without their healing knowledge, too. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Edited by: Pieroni A, Vandebroek I. The Province of Camagey is located between 2031'01" and 2229'00" latitude North and 7657'00" longitude West from Greenwich. Besides Haitians, other ethnic groups in the Province include Jamaicans and Chinese. Johns T: The Origins of Human Diet and Medicine. Datura is a powerful psychoactive plant, found in West Africa as well as other tropical areas and used there in ritual as well as criminal activities. 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. In this article we have presented the medicinal plants' knowledge of Haitians in Cuba as it is today, approximately 80 years after migration. The rural Missourian who uses herbs does so out of an unwillingness to give up a part of her heritage. 2005, 102: 69-88. [12], Nevet and de la Rosa [9], and Pedro [10]. 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. 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]. Volpato G, Godnez D. Ethnobotany of Pru, a traditional Cuban refreshment. My mom comes from a line of Haitian women herbalists from Gonaives, Haiti. 10.1016/0378-8741(86)90070-X. 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. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Rituality based on 'sacred' numbers represents, in these cases, a simple way of memorizing the proper dose to be used, as well as a contribution to the efficacy of the remedy by calling upon supernatural forces and entities related to those numbers. 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. During the period 19001930, more than half a million Haitians entered the country legally or illegally [6,7]. 1986, 17: 13-30. It is named in honor of its discover, Quassia the Surinam slave. Haitians were concentrated in the sugarcane and coffee areas of the former provinces of Oriente and Camagey (Figure 1). Nez N, Gonzlez E: Antecedentes etnohistricos de la alimentacin tradicional en Cuba. The Origins of Human Diet and Medicine Chemical Ecology. Momordica charantia, Solanum americanum and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis are among those species most cited by Haitians in this study. 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]. Her go-to cure-all medicinal plant is asosi, also called cerasee and corailee in the English-speaking Caribbean. The ethnic and cultural composition of contemporary Caribbean populations are the result of historical population movements through the slave trade and inter-island migration and of the legacy of the different ethnicities involved in the process of national identity formation. [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. 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 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). Plants of Haiti used as antifertility agents - PubMed 2004, 58: 381-395. Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies Among these, a mixture prepared with the fruit of Crescentia cujete as a main ingredient is highly regarded by Haitians and is considered as a panacea. Voodoo, a traditional religion, is widely known for this hybrid form of care. She learned from her mother, who learned from her mother, who learned from her mother and so on. To locate the respondents, we first focused on the areas in the province where historical and oral records indicate the presence of Haitian communities (e.g. 1992, 39: 9-22. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help Fuentes V. Sobre la medicina tradicional en Cuba. 1990, Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. Traveling cultures and plants The ethnobiology and ethnopharmacy of migrations. 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. Of these, about three quarters were reported with the same medicinal uses, and the remaining quarter with different uses. Article Before Bidens pilosa, Cymbopogon citratus, Majorana hortensis, Ocimum spp.). Camagey is the largest province in Cuba, at 15,615 km2, corresponding to 14.3% of the nation's territory. Anyone who has seen a cat lolling around blissfully on a pile of catnip knows that this herb can produce a definite reaction.. Between bellyaches and lucky charms. But quinine is a chemical salt that can cause violent reactions, unlike gentle verbena. 1957, La Habana: Contribuciones Ocasionales del Museo de Historia Natural Colegio La Salle 10, P. Fernndez and Ca, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. The complexity of practices related to traditional posology is rarely investigated in ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological studies. 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. Edited by: Pieroni A, Price LL. Some touristic infrastructures (notably in Camagey city and Santa Luca beach) have been developed in the last decade [26]. Pieroni A, Mnz H, Akbulut M, Baser KHC, Durmuskahya C. Traditional phytotherapy and transcultural pharmacy among Turkish immigrants living in Cologne, Germany. If they or their leaf doctor sense that any of these factors are out of balance in their body, they dose themselves with an decoction (tea) of sarsaparilla root. Below are the links to the authors original submitted files for images. Five formulas have been reported as miel de gira (siw kalbaz in Creole), whose main ingredient is the fruit of Crescentia cujete. Some plant uses have a common origin in the ethnobotanical practices of Caribbean people of African cultural heritage, the so-called Afro-Caribbean pharmacopoeia: examples include the use of the aerial parts of Lippia alba and Cymbopogon citratus, as well as the use of roots and ligneous parts of Allophylus cominia, Caesalpinia bahamensis, Erythroxylum havanense, and Chiococca alba. Exceptions to this are the works of Brutus and Pierre-Noel, Len, and Weniger et al. Although they are also reported in Beyra et al. Therefore, herbs are the medicine of choice and necessity. GV and DG conceived and designed the research. The Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacy of Migrations. I used Kloss's Back to Eden and Santillo's Natural Healing with Herbs for my American source books. 2. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, http://www.afrocubaweb.com/haiticuba.htm#creole, http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm, decoction of three shoots and three roots. most plants used in Haiti were also available in Cuba), and to the cultivation of medicinal plants in the new environment. The .gov means its official. Traditional pharmacology and medicine in Africa. 1959, Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie de L'etat. Cerasse vine intertwined with other plants growing in Cacheta Francis' North Miami Beach backyard. 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. Privacy The decoction of fresh herbal components is by far the preferred means to prepare medicinal remedies, accounting for almost 60% of all preparations, which is similar to what has been found in traditional Cuban medicine [15,17,19].