Folk Medicine – An Important Component of Ethnoculture
Folk medicine is an essential part of a people’s ethnoculture. Based on the most ancient empirical knowledge of many generations and folk experience, methods of diagnosing and preventing diseases were developed, along with a particular understanding of their causes and various ways of treatment using remedies of plant, animal, and mineral origin. A special place in folk medicine was given to healing through words.
Folk beliefs about the causes of illnesses can be divided into rationally explained (for example, colds, food poisoning, cuts, etc.) and irrationally explained (so-called inflicted, made, or “sent” diseases). The first category of illnesses was usually treated at home with plant, animal, and mineral remedies. Almost every housewife had her own recipes for home treatment.
The main direction of folk therapy was herbal treatment. Since ancient times, our ancestors observed the surrounding environment and gradually learned to find cures in nature for various ailments. They developed rules for collecting, drying, storing, and using medicinal herbs. People knew that active substances accumulated in plants during specific periods of their development, so they were harvested at precisely determined times. Roots, leaves, or flowers were considered medicinal depending on the plant. Leaves were usually collected before flowering; underground parts (roots, tubers) – in autumn or early spring; bark – during the sap flow in spring; seeds and fruits – at ripening. Flowers were recommended to be picked at the beginning of blooming.
Medicinal plants were dried in a dry, dark, well-ventilated place and never in the sun. They were stored in cotton bags, cardboard or wooden boxes lined with clean paper, or in glass jars with lids. The shelf life of herbal raw materials was one year for herbs, two or more for fruits and seeds. Various medicinal preparations were made from plants, both for internal (decoctions, tinctures, juices, powders) and external (baths, enemas, lotions, poultices, compresses, ointments) use. Many herbs were well known to ancestors for their healing properties: wormwood, mint, burdock, coltsfoot, centaury, valerian, lily of the valley, oregano, mullein, yarrow, plantain, Veronica officinalis, chamomile, thyme, bearberry, St. John’s wort, and many others.
In addition to herbs, Ukrainians widely used the healing properties of trees. Birch, oak, walnut, viburnum, pine, alder, and willow were especially popular. For example, birch sap and infusions of birch leaves in water or vodka were used for coughs. Vodka tinctures on birch buds were rubbed in for rheumatic pains and as wound-healing remedies. Oak bark was used for gargling in oral mucosa diseases, toothaches, and taken internally for stomach, intestinal, and bladder disorders.
A girl in everyday folk clothing, early 20th century, from the town of Kostopil, Rivne region. Photo by Yu. Klymovych from Ivan Honchar’s historical and ethnographic art album “Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Volume 13 “Volyn,” KN-12741/21.
Vegetables also played an important role in folk healing, with garlic and onions being the most important, especially against colds. Other vegetables were also widely used: potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage. Raw grated potatoes were applied to abscesses, insect stings, calluses, burns, or back pain. Hot potatoes were applied to legs or chest to warm during colds. Inhalations were made over boiled potatoes.
In regions such as Polissia and the Carpathians, where gathering was well-developed, wild berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, lingonberries) and mushrooms also held a significant place in local traditions. Blueberries were used for diarrhea, low stomach acidity, kidney stones, and anemia. Dried porcini mushrooms were used for wound healing and abscesses.
An elderly woman from the village of Fenevychi, Ivankiv district, Kyiv region, in local attire in front of her house. The house is from the second half of the 19th century. Photo 1970, from Ivan Honchar’s historical and ethnographic art album “Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Volume 6 “Northern Kyiv region,” KN-12734/21
Animal products were also widely used. A well-known remedy was hot milk with additives for colds: with butter and honey, with egg and butter, with honey and pepper. Animal fats (pork, dog, badger, goose) were rubbed in for colds and used as healing agents. Among mineral remedies, clay and salt were the most common. Clay compresses were used for sprains and bruises, while hot salt compresses were applied for colds to the throat and nose.
Collective farmer Yosyp Zahorui at his apiary. Village of Kozliv, Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi district, Kyiv region. Photo from Ivan Honchar’s historical and ethnographic art album “Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Vol. 1 “General Volume,” KN-12729/43.
Diseases considered “inflicted” were not treated at home. People turned to healers (znakhars), who used magical rituals, spells, and ceremonies to drive away illness. Illness was believed to be a negative energy substance that could penetrate the body. Spells were “spoken” over water or vodka and then given to the sick person to drink. Illness could be “thrown” with cursed items, “poured” into drinks, or “released” into a whirlwind. To remove such illnesses, healers performed rituals like rolling an egg or bread over the patient’s body while reciting incantations.
(Hunter) “After hunting wolves.” Yosyp Dvoryakivskyi next to a wolf he killed. Village of Bila Krynytsia, Rivne district, Rivne region. Photo 1937, from Ivan Honchar’s historical and ethnographic art album “Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Volume 13 “Volyn,” KN-12741/10.
Healers used special materials: water drawn before sunrise, herbs, knives, salt, poppy seeds, and sacred items blessed in church (crosses, icons, candles). Color symbolism was important – red was used for skin diseases, black for epilepsy. Magical rituals were always accompanied by incantations whispered over food or water to be consumed by the patient, making words enter the body.
Potters at work – Stepan Zdoryk (right) and Davyd Khabryka. Obukhiv, Kyiv region. Photo 1945, from Ivan Honchar’s historical and ethnographic art album “Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Vol. 4 “Right-Bank Kyiv region,” KN-12732/31.
Healers and witches were believed to operate on opposite sides. Healers cured with divine knowledge, while witches and sorcerers were believed to cause illness, infertility, quarrels, livestock disease, and even death. Both categories could be innate or taught. Knowledge was often passed “by blood” or through family lineage, sometimes transferred at the moment of death.
Midwives (traditional birth attendants) formed a separate “pure” category, considered both physically and spiritually suitable for their divine role. They were usually women in menopause and were regarded as serving God through their work.
