Two species of wormwood, Artemisia frigida and A. wrightii, were used medicinally by the Zuni. The first, which they called To'shoeha'chikia ('seeds leaf sweet'), was made into a warm tea to be taken as a cold remedy. The second, Ha'lo kia'we ('ant seeds'), was used in a sweat-bath to remedy the aches and pains brought on by a cold. Used in this fashion, the plant was the sole property of the Ant fraternity, and he was the only one permitted to administer this treatment.
Yarrow - Ha'tsenawe ('cold leaf') - was used by those fraternity men who performed various fire rituals. Used in this fashion, it was the exclusive property of this secret fraternity. When the plant was mixed with cold water and applied to burns, it was a medicine considered the common property of all the people.
Bluebell (Campanula parryi) blossoms were chewed and applied to the skin to remove young hair. Also, the chewed root was applied with bandages to bruises. They called the plant U'tea li'anna, which meant 'blue flower.'
Thistle was used to treat syphilis, plants in the Goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae) were used to treat headaches, Flat-top Buckwheat was used to treat wounds, and Gilia species were used to treat headaches, fevers, swelling in the throat, to induce vomiting, and to act on the bowels and kidneys. Many, many plants provided the Zuni medicine, some perhaps efficacious, some not. Some were prepared simply, and then applied or chewed or sipped or inhaled. Some were prepared with great ceremony, and were the closely guarded secrets of some fraternity. But that was what life was all about to the Zuni: ceremony.
As Matilda wrote, "...the life of the Zuni is a prolonged ceremony from birth to death, of which plant life forms a conspicuous feature; but plants are revered apart from their association with ceremony and the curing of the sick. The Zuni have a passion for the beautiful in nature; they love flowers because they are beautiful to the eye, and their fragrance, too, is pleasing."
Go To Page: 1 2
