Las Curanderas: Traditional Healers in New Mexico

curandera_de_la_madre_tierra

Painting by Ricardo Ortega

Courtesy of aztecreations.net

 http://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/new-mexico-shealing-tradition.aspx?PageId=5#ArticleContent

I found the above article about a ninety one year old curandera named Gabrielita.  According to this article, there are three main categories of curanderas: yerbera (herbalist) and continuing with the partera(midwife), sobadora (folk chiropractor), and curandera espiritual (spiritual healer), who uses prayer and ritual and is the least common of the curanderas (Arellano, 1997).

In the context of this article, curanderos are closer to what some people might consider a homeopathic practitioner Gabriela believes that her gifts come from God and she is devoutly religious. She prays to God that the herbs she picks  will help her patient.  The article describes one of her  harvesting methods this way:  “She began her harvest on August 12 of each year, as did her grandmother and other curanderas, who attended mass on that date and sometimes walked in a procession with the saints, praying that God would bless the herbs before picking. ‘There is a religious, spiritual  connection to this day,’ Gabrielita says. ­‘August 12 is the day of the Blessed Virgin, or so the old ones said’” (Arellano, 1997).

She resembles Ultima in this way, such as when in the movie, she tells Antonio to speak to each herb as they pick them. Unlike Ultima, Gabriela is not making wax dolls of those who have cursed her family.

Works Cited

Arellano, A. (1997, March/April). Las Curanderas: Traditional Healers in New Mexico. Retrieved from Mother Earth Living: Natural Home, Healthy Life: http://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/new-mexico-shealing-tradition.aspx?PageId=5#ArticleContent

 

Comments are closed.