Ethnography Of Treating Childhood Diseases With Folk And Magic Ways

Abstract

In the present paper, the author considers folk methods of treating childhood diseases in the Chechens based on field materials and published articles. For the preservation of human health folk medicine was that constant, one might say, an inexhaustible source, in abundance containing a vital elixir intended to maintain human health, in which folk medicine revealed many means for treating various diseases, studied them and applied them in practice. Chechen folk medicine manifests not only the presence of traditional methods based on millennial practical knowledge, but also the observance of various magic methods that were irrational in nature. The historical approach to the study of traditional medical culture makes it possible to reveal the cultural interaction of ethnic communities and determine the place and role of folk medicine in ethnic life. It shall also be noted that the study of folk medicine, including the methods of treating childhood diseases, has particular theoretical and practical importance. The knowledge of folk traditions of medicine makes it possible to use them at present, since the accumulated rich experience of folk medicine continues to develop. In some cases the results of traditional folk methods of treatment indicate their high efficiency. On the other hand, they used various techniques that were magic in nature. Such a combination of rational and irrational, empirical knowledge and religious and magic ideas will be considered in the given paper.