Traditional-ancestral medical system in the territory of the Indigenous Reserves of Túquerres-Narino, Colombia

Abstract

The traditional medical system has been analyzed in the territory of Los Pastos, Indigenous Reservoir of Túquerres, Nariño, Colombia. For the indigenous people, health is the product of the harmonious relationship between nature, human beings and the spiritual world. When one of these three nexuses breaks, the body becomes ill affecting both the individual and the family. The approach was hermeneutic in understanding the practices of the community related to traditional medicine. The unit of study was the totality of traditional doctors (19), among whom there are herbalists, spiritualists, and seagers and midwives. The results have reflected that the practice of traditional medicine, which in the case of the State, some sectors of the Church and health care institutions do not accept this ancestral practice, persecuting the traditional doctor accusing him of sorcerer, liar and liar. There are two categories of traditional doctors: the spiritual ones and those of the body. Among the most common diseases of the body are gastritis, ulcer, appendicitis, gallbladder disease, cancer, fractures and dislocations. Among the spiritual ones: the fright, the bad wind, the miado of the cueche, the spell and diseases that they call "of the soul", like envy, loneliness, sadness, selfishness. The treatment is accompanied by a ritual. For the spiritual ones, the person and the environment are purified with incense, invoking God and nature, sun, water, and the greater spirits. The communal perception: they consider that the traditional medicine is an alternative for the health of the body and the spirit through plants.