Each country has its own traditions, superstitions… and grandmother remedies! And Ireland is no exception to the rule: the country has countless tricks, potions and other healing beliefs. And I might as well warn you: some of them are a bit crazy, if not downright disgusting… Halfway between phyto and witchcraft! Rest assured, these practices have since been largely lost to modern medicine, and we naturally advise you against trying them… But here’s a look at some ancestral Irish remedies that are supposed to heal!
Yes, we know. It’s off to a great start… In time immemorial, the Irish were convinced that the hand of a corpse could cure any illness…
To do this, they grouped the sick in a house, and brought in a corpse. The poor bastard’s hand was then affixed to each patient. The belief was that this would conceal the illness.
What’s more, it was not uncommon for a piece of the sheet used to wrap the corpse to be removed to make a bandage… It was then supposed to cure a headache or a swollen limb, for example…
We’ll skip the chapter on hygiene… Yuck.
Here’s a much more classic and much less disgusting remedy: according to Irish belief, raw potatoes have the power to soothe burns… All you had to do was cut a potato in half and place it on the wound.
A bandage could even be made to keep the tuber on the skin for several hours…
A little phyto doesn’t hurt! In Ireland, people used to tie a small bunch of mint to their wrists. As well as providing a pleasant scent, mint was thought to protect you from disease and other infections.
It was also thought to treat indigestion and stomach disorders.
This belief doesn’t just exist in Ireland… But for many Irish people, it’s crucial to sleep with your head in the north and your feet in the south. When it comes to sleeping from east to west, don’t even think about it! This would be a real sacrilege, causing illness and infections of all kinds!
Here’s an old grandma’s recipe that’s a little mystical. Nettles picked in a cemetery and boiled are said to cure water retention. The resulting liquid would then be consumed as is, like a drink.
But beware: according to popular belief, the remedy will only work if the nettles come from a cemetery… No need to pick them in the forest or in your garden… The Irish have a certain sense of the morbid, don’t you think?
Would you like to take a bath with your 40 fever? Such was the local belief in Ireland. This ancient practice consisted of placing a sick person on a beach when the tide came in… and letting the waves take him over until the tide went out…
Legend has it that when the tide went out, it took the fever with it, curing the poor wretch, who was then frozen by hours of marinating in cold water… I’m not sure it will cure him… but forced hypothermia has a certain charm, doesn’t it?
Another astonishing practice: for the Irish, one of the best remedies for rheumatism was to wear an iron ring on the ring finger. For many, iron contact with the skin was a powerful remedy to relieve congestion…
This practice has the merit of doing no harm… For centuries, some Irish people believed that eating boiled carrots cleansed the blood and prevented infections and other ailments.
