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Menominee herbal healing . Isha Shrestha , Cally Schulz, Jake Zelin , brett horowitz. history. Call themselves Mamaceqtaw (ma-ma- chay -tau) Other tribes call them Menominee “wild rice people” because it’s a major source of food.
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Menominee herbal healing Isha Shrestha, Cally Schulz, Jake Zelin, bretthorowitz
history • Call themselves Mamaceqtaw(ma-ma-chay-tau) • Other tribes call them Menominee “wild rice people” because it’s a major source of food. • Lived around Green Bay when the French explorer Jean Nicolet arrived there in 1634. • 5 clans: Ancestral Bear, Eagle, Wolf, Moose, and Crane • Hunting/fishing/gathering society that spoke Algonquin.
Cosmology Cosmology • Earth Separates the upper/lower worlds. Good/evil? • Highest level=Sun • White Deer= level below • Earth contributes to • origins of Medicine Dance
Cosmology/Shaman • Mythology contains ethical meanings/connection to sacred Native American literature • Humans have guardian spirits • Power gained from guardian through dreaming • Shamans assist in dream interpretation
Role of the Shaman • At puberty, boys and girls retreated to fasting and isolation inside a wigwam • The shaman would interpret animal meanings in dreams • Shamans maintain high level of spiritual power • Specialize in hunting charms, love medicines, cures for spiritual illness • Medicine Lodges were organized to insure healthy long lives • Knowledge of spiritual medicines and herbs were key
Connection to the Readings Vine Deloria, Jr. “Two Essays” • Key points of focus: “Isolation” from healing and respecting those who allow weaker members of the community to rely on them. • Comparison: Menominee Medicinal/Healing Practices to visiting a doctor in a hospital. • Healing practices were communal concepts guided by a Shaman. In this way, each person takes an active part in their healing and search for inner knowledge with the guidance of a Shaman. • A doctor visit in the hospital often leaves most of diagnosis and treatment up to the physician. This can cause a feeling of isolation with the healing process of the individual.
Uses of herbs Large toothwort, Cardamine maxima • Gastrointestinal aid - good medicine for the stomach
Uses of herbs Hoary puccoon, Lithospermumcanescens • Sedative - compound infusion take and rubbed on body to quite a person near convulsions
Uses of herbs Eastern waterleaf, Hydrophyllumvirgianianum • Analgesic – compound decoction of root used for chest pain • Antidiarrheal – astringent root used for flux
Uses of herbs great St. Johnswort, Hypericumascyron • Kidney aid – compounded with black-cap raspberry roots and used for kidney troubles • Pulmonary aid – root used for weak lungs • Tuberculosis remedy – used in first stages of consumption
Uses of herbs Sweetscentedjoepyeweed, Eupatorium purpureum • Gynecological aid – compound decoction of root taken after childbirth “for internal healing” • Urinary aid – plant used for diseases of the genitourinary canal
DO THESE HERBS WORK? • According to Moerman, the author Native American Medicinal Plants: an ethnobotanical dictionary, the short answer is yes. • However, the question is tricky. • Asking about the effectiveness of a drug, is not a simple biological or medicinal issue but a complex problem of culture and meaning.
Contemporary uses of herbs • Eupatorium purpureum • Used in many disorders of the urino-genital passages • Similar to historical uses • Hypericumascyron • Not used because of endangered status • Hydrophyllumvirgianianum • No evidence of use in present day medicine
Contemporary uses of herbs • Lithospermumcanescens • Used to treat certain callous infections • Cardamine maxima • No evidence of use in present day medicine • We attempted to contact a member of the tribe to find out if any of these herbs were still used but we did not get a response.
WORKS CITED • Deloria, Vine, and James Treat. For This Land: Writings on Religion in America. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print. • "The McCune Collection: Leary, Stuart and Co." The McCune Collection: Home. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.mccunecollection.org/leary_stuart.html>. • "Menominee History - Indian Country Wisconsin." Milwaukee Public Museum. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/icw-153.html>. • "Menominee Indian Tribe History." Access Genealogy: A Free Genealogy Resource. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/menominee/menomineehist.htm>. • Moerman, Daniel E. Native American Medicinal Plants: an Ethnobotanical Dictionary. Portland, Or.: Timber, 2009. Print. • Spearing Salmon By Torchlight, painting by Paul Kane • Welcome to the PLANTS Database | USDA PLANTS. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. <http://plants.usda.gov/java/>.