Laguerre, Michel S. Afro-Caribbean Folk Medicine, S. Hadley, Mass: Bergin & Garvey, 1987. 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. 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. Informants reported using 123 plant species belonging to 112 genera in 63 families. Les plantes et legumes d'Haiti qui guerrissent. They both grow well in Ozark soil which contains a lot of limestone sediment. 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. Pieroni A, Mnz H, Akbulut M, Baser KHC, Durmuskahya C: Traditional phytotherapy and transcultural pharmacy among Turkish immigrants living in Cologne, Germany. In this article we have presented the medicinal plants' knowledge of Haitians in Cuba as it is today, approximately 80 years after migration. 105 e/ngel y Pobre, Camagey, Cuba, Daimy Godnez,Angela Beyra&Adelaida Barreto, You can also search for this author in These mixtures can be more or less complex, ranging from a concoction of two plants to complex preparations with different species. 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. Calle Cisneros No. 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. Throughout the field study, the ethical guidelines adopted by the American Anthropological Association [27] were followed. 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]. Besides single medicinal plants, 22 herbal mixtures, mostly prepared as a concoction of plants or plant parts, are reported. They are persistent. 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]. My own interest in herbal healing dates back twenty years when I moved to a rural area in the Ozarks and had occasion to meet local people who gathered herbs and used them to treat various ailments. They are used to treat rashes in children caused by measles and smallpox (e.g. Camagey, La Habana). By using this website, you agree to our DG, AB, and AB performed botanical analysis and species identification. Those who arrived in the 1940s came either by plane or boat, although they were migrating mostly for the same reasons. In my research, I discovered three herbs that are used for female problems both in Haiti and Ozarkia. Haiti Medicine S.A. (HM) is a private company, which distributes top quality medicines and pharmaceutical products throughout Haiti. 2000, La Habana, Cuba: Centro de Antropologa-CEISIC-Centro Juan Marinello, Espronceda ME: Parentesco, inmigracin y comunidad. Pedro A. Guanamaca, una comunidad haitiana. 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. 1) and generally sold for US$1.50 to $2.50. Chemie, Pharmakologie, Toxikologie. Somehow, this knowledge was transmitted to slaves in America and they began treating themselves with quassia, also. 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]. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. 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. To some, the wild green plant with five point leaves may be just an annoying weed, but to many in South Floridas Caribbean community Jamaicans, Bahamians,Trinidadians, Haitians -- its the "it" plant for just about every ailment. 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). Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Additional file 1: Medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. Almost half of the plants reported in this study are not reported in Beyra et al. Ososki AL, Balick MJ, Daly DC: Medicinal plants and cultural variation across Dominican Rural, Urban, and Transnational Landscapes. Some locals say that Voodoo succeeds where modern . Hernndez J, Volpato G: Herbal mixtures in the traditional medicine of eastern Cuba. 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. GV and DG conceived and designed the research. Echinacea can be taken several times a day, as advised by an herbalist. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. April 28, 2023. 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]. 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]. [25]). Five formulas have been reported as miel de gira (siw kalbaz in Creole), whose main ingredient is the fruit of Crescentia cujete. Before But because of the recent wet weather, freshcerasee is practically everywhere wrapping itself around traffic signs near I-95 and across fences. volume5, Articlenumber:16 (2009) An ethnobotanical investigation was conducted to collect information on medicinal plant use by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. 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. 2. 2007, Oxford: Berghahn, 14-38. This information on herbs was developed by BHLP faculty members and consultants as an attempt to begin educating conventional health care practitioners about the use of herbs and supplements by ethnic groups in Boston. Haitians were concentrated in the sugarcane and coffee areas of the former provinces of Oriente and Camagey (Figure 1). the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health. 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. Revista Cubana de Alimentacin y Nutricin. 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 . 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]. [21-25]. Two main stores are situated in North Montreal and offer a choice of several dozen Haitian medicinal plants, dried and packaged in small plastic bags (Fig. 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. Natural Healing with Herbs, Prescott Valley, AZ: Hohm Press, 1987. Estudio etnobotnico I. Fuentes V. Plants in Afro-Cuban Religions. Dayana St. Fort was born in Haiti. 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. 1998, 63: 1-179. 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. Almost five per cent of the remedies are used without processing, which is especially the case for fruits eaten as medicinal foods (e.g. 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]. Juice extraction is mostly used for green parts and is preferred over decoction and infusion for topical applications. Quassia was thought to have been a leaf healer in Surinam before being brought to Haiti. Seabrook claimed it was called "pains cutter" in rural Haiti.. Douching with a decoction made from oak bark is another female remedy found in both Haiti and the Ozarks (Jordan, 735; Kloss, 171). The plant . 1960, Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie de L'etat, Leon R: Phytotherapie Haitienne; Nos simple. 1957, La Habana: Contribuciones Ocasionales del Museo de Historia Natural Colegio La Salle 10, P. Fernndez and Ca, Alain H: Flora de Cuba. 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. Cerasee or asosi . 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]. Due to its mostly flat territory, the Province of Camagey historically had an economy primarily based on cattle and sugarcane, as well as small-scale farming. Herbal baths are important in Haitian culture in both spiritual and medicinal practices, and represent the second most important category of administration, after ingestion. PubMed 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. For most Haitian migrants, given their poverty, there was no possibility to make trips back to Haiti to procure remedies that were not available in the new environment. 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. In the case of a child with persistent 'evil eye' (for example when the child cries excessively), after the bath the child's clothes are burnt, and a collar is made with seeds of Canavalia ensiformis and placed on the child, as reported also in Haiti [36]. Google Scholar. Prior to that date, many documents on the French colonies carry some mention of Haitian ethnobotany. 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. 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 magic . They knew the use of cure-to-all medicinal plant Asosi or cerasee or corailee in English which grows all over South Florida, especially in abundance during the rainy season. (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. 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. Haitian immigrants and their descendants mainly decoct or infuse aerial parts and ingest them, but medicinal baths are also relevant. In some Caribbean grocery stores and health food stores,cerasee is sold in tea bags or dried. Camagey is the largest province in Cuba, at 15,615 km2, corresponding to 14.3% of the nation's territory. and Bidens pilosa are added to treat congestions of the respiratory system, whereas 'hot' plants (e.g. 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. 2008, 117: 41-50. Camagey is the largest province in Cuba, at 15,615 km2, corresponding to 14.3% of the nation's territory. [12], Nevet and de la Rosa [9], and Pedro [10]. She is a believer of remed fey, or bush medicine. When a person thinks of sarsaparilla, what most often comes to mind is probably an old-fashioned sudsy drink not unlike root beer. The European slave owners were not without their healing knowledge, too. 1991, 22: 55-76. (Colon, 154).. Below are the links to the authors original submitted files for images. They are used to treat rashes in children caused by measles and smallpox (e.g. All of the mints have the effect of soothing indigestion and quieting nausea. 2023 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. 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. I have chosen eight that are used both in Haiti and the Ozarks to describe and comment on. They sell a large variety of medicinal plants (67 dry species and three fresh species) from the Haitian pharmacopoeia. Una visin del caso haitiano. In Haiti, Voodoo priests, or hougans, use homemade remedies consisting of herbs and exotic plants to cure patients. The .gov means its official. 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. 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. (Laguerre, 68) In the Ozarks catnip tea administered to babies quiets colic and can even be used to stop convulsions. Revista Cubana de Alimentacin y Nutricin. A Haitian carnival takes place every year in Santiago de Cuba, and a Creole radio program is broadcasted nationally [13]. They observe nuances in the condition of their blood that are almost unheard of in white Anglo folk pharmacopoeia. Terms and Conditions, 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. GV, DG, AB, and AB carried out interviews and collected data in the field. 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. with Momordica charantia, Hamelia patens), as well as to treat skin infections such as carbuncles, to alleviate itching, and to fortify children who have 'fragile health'. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 Haitians (21 women and 13 men) whose ages ranged from 45 to 102 years (mean age 68), in the following communities: Central Brasil, Jiqu, Aguacate, Esmeralda, Antn, Batey Varela (Antn), San Serapio, Caidije, La Jagua, Macuto 2, Camagey (neighbourhoods of Puerto Prncipe, Bellavista, Florat, and La Guernica). 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. It is named in honor of its discover, Quassia the Surinam slave. She learned from her mother, who learned from her mother, who learned from her mother and so on. 715-738, 1975. He remembered and was able to impart that knowledge when he arrived in the Caribbean. They relied heavily on homegardens, wild plants, and on traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and practices in order to survive. Shes 81. Gabriele Volpato. Another excellent febrifuge used both in Haiti and the Ozarks is senna. She is a believer of remed fey, or bush medicine. 1974, La Habana: Instituto Cubano del Libro. In the latter province, they mainly settled in Haitian communities such as Caidije and Guanamaca, thus permitting the perpetuation of their own culture, including the voodoo religion and the creole language [912]. 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. 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. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. 1990, Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. Fieldwork was carried out from December 2002March 2003 and from FebruaryJuly 2004. Ethnopharmacological themes in sub-Saharan art objects and utensils. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Baths are the second more important category of means of application at almost 16% of the total. Scull R, Miranda M, Infante RS: Plantas medicinales de uso tradicional en Pinar del Ro. 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. 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]. Article 2006, Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 213-235. Herbal baths are important in Haitian culture in both spiritual and medicinal practices, and represent the second most important category of administration, after ingestion. 10.1016/0378-8741(86)90070-X. 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. Remedies prepared by heating plant parts in fire (four per cent) are mostly used for topical applications (e.g. To gain further insights, we qualitatively compared our results with those reported in other Cuban ethnobotanical studies [18, 19, 42, 49] and especially with the work of Beyra et al. 1985, 497-509. Colon, Sandra Hernandez. 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. People like St. Fort, who grew up in Haiti, know to keep an eye out for the trusted plant. In its basic preparation, the inner mass is cooked, triturated, and then stirred, sometimes being left one night outside of the house before stirring. Inventory of medicinal plants used by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba. The Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants and Herbs in the Province of Pedro A: Guanamaca, una comunidad haitiana. Naomie Phillis, 50, sells traditional herbal medicine in Ption-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. Background: Haitian migrants played an important role shaping Cuban culture and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge. The sour . Les plantes et legume d'Haiti qui guerrissent. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Traveling Plants and Cultures The Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacy of Migrations. 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. Uses of medicinal plants by Haitian immigrants and their descendants in the Province of Camagey, Cuba, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, http://www.afrocubaweb.com/haiticuba.htm#creole, http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0. Even though the Haitian and the Ozarkian know that "modern medicine" exists and is practiced by doctors located an automobile or donkey ride away, the old herbal beliefs don't die away. Back to Eden, 1939. 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%). 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. religious and traditional practices have merged with medicine. 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. 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]. Senna is the main ingredient in many modern day American laxatives. 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. William Seabrook's work The Magic Island also cites the usage of verbena in women who are in labor (Seabrook 327). 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. Canella winterana, Pimenta dioica) are added to preparations with stomachic purposes. 1998, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba: Editorial Oriente, Creole Language and Culture: Part of Cuba's Cultural Patrimony. Have a sore throat? 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. 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. Respondents in the city of Camagey were located thanks to the local Haitian Association. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 Haitians (21 women and 13 men) whose ages ranged from 45 to 102 years (mean age 68), in the following communities: Central Brasil, Jiqu, Aguacate, Esmeralda, Antn, Batey Varela (Antn), San Serapio, Caidije, La Jagua, Macuto 2, Camagey (neighbourhoods of Puerto Prncipe, Bellavista, Florat, and La Guernica). A tummy ache? During the period 19001930, more than half a million Haitians entered the country legally or illegally [6, 7]. The Province of Camagey is located between 2031'01" and 2229'00" latitude North and 7657'00" longitude West from Greenwich. Audrey Rowe is Jamaican. The site is secure. Parentesco, inmigracin y comunidad Una visin del caso haitiano. 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.
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