SchoolsEstela RomeroFebruary 05, 2021Medicinal herbs

Medicinal herbs, invaluable benefit from our trees!

SchoolsEstela RomeroFebruary 05, 2021Medicinal herbs

THE VISIT

The Symbolic Migration has visited this Wednesday, February 3, a local family keeping a very old tradition full of knowledge. The Reyes family, parents to our host Jocelyn, 13 year-old girl and middle school student, living by the upper hill northwest side to Sierra Chincua Sanctuary, welcomed the program offering a beautiful place under shade at the open yard to perform our lesson. In we went directly to the topic of the day: “The benefits of trees”. Families living in the countryside are so knowledgeable that one feels sometimes, that instead of us teaching a lesson, it is they who confirm our lesson preparation and add up additional facts to it!. “We were born and have grown up here. We mostly live from our forest resources”, --mother Martina commented--. “Our forest trees?, Cedro, Madroño, Pino, Oyamel, Tepozán, Fresno, Aile and our different types of Encinos!, yes!, all of them are up here!; the higher the more the Oyamel trees, since they belong to very high and cold altitudes; right now, they are full of Monarch butterflies!. --father Toño seemed to have fun while the slides passed along every member of the team. “Could you tell us about the benefits of trees you have in mind?”, --Estela asked—“Water!, oxygen!, mushrooms!, protection to all of our animals!”, land-slides prevention!” --Jocelyn, Roberto her brother, --the oldest of the children--, Carlos, Dorian and Henry screamed one after the other--. Then, fruit trees came. All in the group could tell of their favorite: “Marmalades, wine, compotes… pie and cake fillings with our own fruits---¡. Mamá Martina, awaited for all to finish and then completed: “For us, one of the most fascinating benefits of our trees in the forest, are medicine herbs. Since as far back as my great-great-grandmother, we keep this old and deep knowledge from generation to generation inherited by hearing, recognizing and practicing all secrets about it. Many people, from our relatives and neighbors and even people from surrounding villages and towns, come to see us when having a health issue. Herbs can be applied to adolescents as well as to adults; they can cure almost everything; what is more, we have the firm belief in our local culture, that there are a few health issues that doctors cannot so easily cure and herbs cure efficiently!. Martina concluded. “Ointments, extracts, oils… herb collection in the forest, preparation processes which can be instantaneous, or can take days... all this depends on the season of the year, the phase of the moon, the emotional temper of the person preparing every remedy…I love to be beside mom and grandma Nina, when they have to treat a patient” Jocelyn, only 13, seemed to really start getting the rich and deep wisdom from her own mom Martina.

In we were invited at the moment, to come into grandma Nina’s kitchen for us to hear from her directly, as she had already placed some samples of herbs at hand: “Yes, Medicine herbs are one of the great benefits we get from our local trees in the forest because we do a living from this and our whole community keep by this an ancestral knowledge that we do not want to loose from our forefathers; it should have taken generations far back to get to know so much about our local herbs, from which we have already lost a few, unfortunately, maybe because of the use of pesticides during recent times and because of the climate change, indeed”. Jocelyn, Henry and Carlos, the oldest ones could so easily recognize several of them by their local names: “Cuachalalate, Pachihuite, Encinilla, Cancerina, Arnica, Trebol…”. This is one more of the great benefits that trees in the forests provide to our local societies, a really old and rich tradition and ancestral knowledge we shall keep as long as we conserve our legendary trees in the forest. “Our Ambassador Monarchs delivered to every group in our whole region shall be contributing, besides our legendary forests, to also bringing in, rescuing, passing over and preserving our many rich traditions and deep and ancestral knowledges deep rooted in our local culture” –Estela concluded, and the family agreed, before leaving the family kitchen and coming outside with joy and noisiness to get and handle and explore their Ambassador Monarchs visiting and gathering the family together today!