Those who arrived in the 1940s came either by plane or boat, although they were migrating mostly for the same reasons. Between bellyaches and lucky charms. Throughout the field study, the ethical guidelines adopted by the American Anthropological Association [27] were followed. Haitian with a dried fruit of Abelmoschus esculentus from his homegarden (G. Volpato). 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. Haitian migrants played an important role shaping Cuban culture and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. The Secrets of Haiti's Living Dead | Harvard Magazine Momordica charantia, Solanum americanum and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis are among those species most cited by Haitians in this study. Hernndez J: Uso popular de plantas con fines medicinales. Shes picking up bush to make some kind of remedy. . 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. A Haitian carnival takes place every year in Santiago de Cuba, and a Creole radio program is broadcasted nationally [13]. In Michel Laguerre's book he tells of a Haitian woman who makes herself ill by eating the head of a turkey. Esquivel M, Fuentes V, Martnez C, Martnez J, Hammer K: The African influence from an Ethnobotanical Point of View. While most women in America go to licensed medical doctors to find relief for gynecological problems, the vast majority of Haitian women cannot avail themselves of expert medical care. Calle Cisneros No. The most frequently used species are Chenopodium ambrosioides, Cissus verticillata, Cocos nucifera, Crescentia cujete, Cymbopogon citratus, Lippia alba, Momordica charantia, Pimenta dioica, Portulaca oleracea, Psidium guajava, and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis. Herbal baths are important in Haitian culture in both spiritual and medicinal practices, and represent the second most important category of administration, after ingestion. Besides single medicinal plants, informants also reported 22 herbal mixtures that are mostly prepared as a concoction of plants or plant parts and ingested. Creole Language and Culture: Part of Cuba's Cultural Patrimony, Volpato G, Godnez D, Beyra A. Migration and ethnobotanical practices: The case of, 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). Anyone who has seen a cat lolling around blissfully on a pile of catnip knows that this herb can produce a definite reaction.. Haiti Medicine S.A. (HM) is a private company, which distributes top quality medicines and pharmaceutical products throughout Haiti. Divergence and Convergence in Traditional Plant-Based Medicinal Uses of medicinal plants by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. The Province is inhabited by some 780,000 people, or seven per cent of the Cuban population. I dont think theres a place that you would go in Haiti and say, I have a fever, I have a sickness, and one person wont tell you, Did you drink asosi?, she said. Viladrich A: Between bellyaches and lucky charms. Dayana St. Fort was born in Haiti. "y tienen faxones y fabas muy diversos de los nuestros" Origin, Evolution and Diversity of Cuban Plant Genetic Resources. [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. Background Haitian migrants played an important role shaping Cuban culture and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. A tummy ache? 10.1016/j.jep.2004.11.022. Since catnip is a very mild herb for humans, it is safe to give to babies in tea form. Its not even like cod liver oil. So, Lippia alba and Cymbopogon citratus often appear in the corpus of ethnobotanical knowledge of African origin in Cuba [14,51], and Erythroxylum havanense and Chiococca alba are among the main ingredients of multi-herbal preparations used as a medicinal remedy in Eastern Cuba as well as a spiritual remedy in Afro-Cuban religions [19,34]. CAS An infusion (tea) of senna is given to expel worms, reduce biliousness (belching and indigestion), and as an all-purpose laxative (Kloss, 312; Santillo, 175). Pieroni A, Vandebroek I, Eds: Traveling Plants and Cultures. And that's it. The relatively high figure for alcoholic maceration (8.7%) is due to the number of plants that are reported to be soaked in rum and used in the preparation of a medicinal and ritual Haitian drink called tifey [14]. Au DT, Wu J, Jiang Z, Chen H, Lu G, Zhao Z. Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by Hakka in Guangdong, China. The tea is bitter. 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. 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. So, Lippia alba and Cymbopogon citratus often appear in the corpus of ethnobotanical knowledge of African origin in Cuba [14, 51], and Erythroxylum havanense and Chiococca alba are among the main ingredients of multi-herbal preparations used as a medicinal remedy in Eastern Cuba as well as a spiritual remedy in Afro-Cuban religions [19, 34]. Abstract. Echinacea can be taken numerous times a day, as recommended by an herbalist. They are persistent. [15] who interviewed 29 Cuban informants across the Province of Camagey and reported 111 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. Haitian Voodoo priests control two major practices which might be of interest to toxicologists: healing and poisoning. 2001, 55: 9-13. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Haitian Medicinal Plants - Medicinal Plants and Herbal Remedies The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Among the shared ethnobotanical practices is also the preparation of miel de gira with the pulp of the fruit of Crescentia cujete. Very, very, very bitter. 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. The most frequently used species are Chenopodium ambrosioides, Cissus verticillata, Cocos nucifera, Crescentia cujete, Cymbopogon citratus, Lippia alba, Momordica charantia, Pimenta dioica, Portulaca oleracea, Psidium guajava, and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis. 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. But in Haiti, the purifying qualities of sarsaparilla are held to be more important because of the emphasis Haitians place on the role of blood in the body. Weniger B, Haag-Berrurier M, Anton R: Plants of Haiti used as antifertility agents. In this article we have presented the medicinal plants' knowledge of Haitians in Cuba as it is today, approximately 80 years after migration. 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. Cultura haitiana en Esmeralda. 1999, 13: 145-150. Macia M, Garcia E, Vidaurre PJ. 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]. 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. Su estudio en la ciudad de Santiago de Cuba. 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. Haitian Plants Medicine, One natural remedy that can be made from the plants and herbs in your herb garden is a frustration painkiller called Echinacea. The incorporation of local remedies into their own pharmacopoeia occurred as a consequence of factors such as cultural contacts and exchanges between Haitians and Cubans and of personal experimentation or imitation of local practices by migrants. (Kloss, 215) In Jordan's research on Voodoo medicine, he places more emphasis, however, on the calming properties of catnip, rather than purgative. He deduced that the bark and wood of the simarouba excelsa plant were an excellent tonic and febrifuge (that which acts to expel intestinal worms from the system). By using this website, you agree to our (Colon, 154).. 10.1016/j.jep.2003.10.012. Inventaire ethnopharmacologique. The Ballad of 'Deepfake Drake' - The New York Times Article 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. More than half of the plant species reported in that study are also reported in the current study of Haitian immigrants and their descendants. I used Kloss's Back to Eden and Santillo's Natural Healing with Herbs for my American source books. 1979, La Habana, Cuba: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, Guanche J, Garcia AJ: Ethnic history. Jordan confirms these abortifacient qualities in his work, Voodoo Medicine. Among the shared ethnobotanical practices is also the preparation of miel de gira with the pulp of the fruit of Crescentia cujete. 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. It is located between the Canal Viejo de Bahamas in the North, the Caribbean Ocean in the South, the Province of Las Tunas in the East, and the Province of Ciego de vila in the West. (Laguerre, 68) In the Ozarks catnip tea administered to babies quiets colic and can even be used to stop convulsions. It is named in honor of its discover, Quassia the Surinam slave. Vervain (Verbena): Benefits, Uses, and Side Effects National Library of Medicine 2009, 37 (1): 43-53. Richard Allen Creole is the second most spoken language in the Province of Camagey, after Spanish. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 5, 16 (2009). ", She points to a green shrub with slightly oval leaves, This isJackna Bush.. To the Haitian, these beliefs are inexorably woven in with Voodoo, serving the loa and reliance on the local docteur feille.. Since Haitians have very limited access to the attentions of doctors and modern medicine when ill, their reliance on leaf-doctoring is essential to remedying their sicknesses and maintaining a state of good health. Cerasee or asosi is typically prepared as a tea: Wash the vine; throw it into a pot of water --leaves, stems and all. Cerasse vine intertwined with other plants growing in Cacheta Francis' North Miami Beach backyard. Another excellent febrifuge used both in Haiti and the Ozarks is senna. The Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants and Herbs in the Province of The relatively high figure for alcoholic maceration (8.7%) is due to the number of plants that are reported to be soaked in rum and used in the preparation of a medicinal and ritual Haitian drink called tifey [14]. 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). Ed. haitian plants medicine A 2017 World Bank report revealed that Haiti's health sector is underfunded, with public spending per capita totaling $13 per year. It would seem that to Haitian or Ozarkian, herbs are a comfort: they keep one grounded in the past and more importantly, they can be effective and inexpensive cures.. After realizing that a similarity existed between Haiti and mid-western America in terms of people gathering and using herbs, I wanted to discover if the two countries shared any common herbal remedies. Herbal and Traditional Medicine in Post-Earthquake Haiti 8600 Rockville Pike Additional file 1: Medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Most of those interviewed are elderly people living in remote rural areas; they often live alone since, because of their age, their husbands and wives have passed away and their children, if any, have migrated mainly to major Cuban cities (e.g. The research project has been funded by a grant to Gabriele Volpato from the CERES Programme for Innovative PhD Research at Wageningen University (CEPIP-W). Ingestion is the preferred means to administer the remedies and accounts for 62% of all applications. the use of Dichrostachys cinerea as antidiarrhoeic) or incomplete imitation of local practices. Lee RA, Balick MJ, Ling DL, Sohl F, Brosi BJ, Raynor W. Cultural dynamism and change An example from the Federated states of Micronesia. In: Pieroni A, Price LL, editor. Pedro A: Guanamaca, una comunidad haitiana. GV drafted the manuscript. Among first generation migrants, twenty are originally from the cities of Les Cayes (Creole name Okai) and Port Salut (Creole name Posal), in the South of Haiti, whereas four lived in or near Port-au-Prince. We aim to make significant improvements in the health of the Haitian population while keeping our company strong. Chemie, Pharmakologie, Toxikologie. Five formulas have been reported as miel de gira (siw kalbaz in Creole), whose main ingredient is the fruit of Crescentia cujete. Laguerre, Michel S. Afro-Caribbean Folk Medicine, S. Hadley, Mass: Bergin & Garvey, 1987. Some locals say that Voodoo succeeds where modern medicine can't, but that the religion is often misunderstood. 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. Ethnomedicinal knowledge of Haitian immigrants in Cuba presents no exception [14]. Some Ozark women do not choose to either. Nez N, Gonzlez E. Antecedentes etnohistricos de la alimentacin tradicional en Cuba. Selling Traditional Haitian Herbs 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. Her go-to cure-all medicinal plant is asosi, also called cerasee and corailee in the English-speaking Caribbean. Methods Information was obtained from semi-structured interviews with Haitian immigrants and their . When a person thinks of sarsaparilla, what most often comes to mind is probably an old-fashioned sudsy drink not unlike root beer. The resulting juice is then mixed with sugar and/or bee's honey and sometimes a small amount of rum, and drunk/eaten for problems of the respiratory system (asthma, catarrh), of the digestive system (stomach pains, intestinal parasites), and of the female reproductive apparatus (infertility) [19]. During the decades after emigration, the original Haitian ethnomedicinal knowledge progressively changed and adapted to the new environment, maintaining cultivation and use of important medicinal plants, incorporating plants and uses from the host Cuban culture, and diffusing specific plant uses to Cubans in contact with Haitian communities. 1) and generally sold for US$1.50 to $2.50. During the period 19001930, more than half a million Haitians entered the country legally or illegally [6,7]. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. Down through the ages women have had to deal with menstrual cramps, excessive bleeding, water retention and unwanted pregnancy, just to name a few. 2000, La Habana, Cuba: Centro de Antropologa-CEISIC-Centro Juan Marinello, Espronceda ME: Parentesco, inmigracin y comunidad. Prez de la Riva J: Cuba y la migracin antillana. As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Una visin del caso haitiano. The rapid disappearance of Haitian migrants' traditional culture due to integration and urbanization suggests that unrecorded ethnomedicinal information may be lost forever. Scientific name, botanical family, vernacular Cuban and Haitian name(s), voucher specimen number, part(s) used, preparation, use(s), and frequency of mention are . Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, Ethnopharmacological themes in sub-Saharan art objects and utensils. Fieldwork was carried out from December 2002March 2003 and from FebruaryJuly 2004. About 75% of the inhabitants live in urban areas, where Camagey, Florida and Nuevitas are the major cities. Privacy Boil and simmer until the water turns a murky greenish brown. The plant pops up all over South Florida, especially when it rains. Haitian with a dried fruit of Abelmoschus esculentus from his homegarden (G. Volpato). 1959, Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie de L'etat. Economic Botany. Eating and Healing: Traditional Food as Medicine. Of concern to Haitians are the coloration, volume, quantity, directionality, temperature and purity of their blood. Across the yard is a towering shrub with yellow flower clusters shapedlike a candle. We identified about twenty species more or less currently used by the women . Decoction of fresh herbal components (mainly leaves and other aerial parts) is the preferred means to prepare medicinal remedies. Weniger B, Rouzier M, Daguilh R, Henrys D, Henrys JH, Anton R. La medecine populaire dans le Plateau Central d'Haiti. leaves applied to the forehead to treat headache). around Central Brasil, Minas in the North of the Province and Central Haiti in the South). and transmitted securely. More than half of the plant species reported in that study are also reported in the current study of Haitian immigrants and their descendants. 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. 1990, Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health. 2000, La Habana: Oficina Nacional de Hidrografa y Geodesia, Code of ethics of the American Anthropological Association. 1998, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba: Editorial Oriente, Creole Language and Culture: Part of Cuba's Cultural Patrimony. Its popular name suggested the plant was used in creating zombies. We will present and discuss data about: 1) traditional remedies, their uses, and preparation, 2) traditional practices and beliefs related to these uses, and 3) changes and adaptation of Haitian medicinal knowledge with emigration and integration over time. They brought plants and they brought their collective memories. He remembered and was able to impart that knowledge when he arrived in the Caribbean. An ethnobotanical investigation was conducted to collect information on medicinal plant use by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. 2001, Guantnamo, Cuba: Editorial el mar y la montaa, Nevet M, De la Rosa AS: Kote ou bouke m pote. We identified about twenty species more Therefore, a medical syncretism of sorts must have occurred. Especially dominant are the soothing effects it is known to have on small infants. 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. FURCY, HAITI - About an hour's drive from Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, residents of Furcy, a cool, lush, agricultural community high up in the mountains, say they are used to dealing with . Its worse than cod liver oil.. Especially over the last decade, Haitians in Cuba have begun to rediscover their roots and revitalize their traditional culture by forming Haitian associations and groups and celebrating festivals and other events. 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]. Haiti is tropical and ginseng and goldenseal need cool, shady forest slopes to grow in. Brandon G. The uses of plants in healing in an Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria. Au DT, Wu J, Jiang Z, Chen H, Lu G, Zhao Z: Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by Hakka in Guangdong, China. Consequently, there is little data in the literature about the ethnobotanical knowledge and practices of Haitians in Cuba, with the exception of Volpato et al. Phillis has sold medicinal herbs since the age of 9, when she helped her mother. Haiti looking to Madagascar's COVID-19 'miracle cure' | Miami Herald