Curandero
A curandero is a traditional native healer or shaman found primarily in Latin America and also in the United States. A curandero is a specialist in traditional medicine whose practice can either contrast with or supplement that of a practitioner of Western medicine. A curandero is claimed to administer shamanistic and spiritistic remedies for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual illnesses. Some curanderos, such as Don Pedrito, the Healer of Los Olmos, make use of simple herbs, waters, or mud to allegedly effect their cures. Others add Catholic elements, such as holy water and pictures of saints; San Martin de Porres for example is heavily employed within Peruvian curanderismo. The use of Catholic prayers and other borrowings and lendings is often found alongside native religious elements. Many curanderos emphasize their native spirituality in healing while being practicing Catholics. Still others, such as Maria Sabina, employ hallucinogenic media and many others use a combination of methods. Most of the concepts related to curanderismo are Spanish words, often with medieval, vernacular definitions.
History in Latin America
Origins of the term "curandero"
The term curanderos can be traced back to the Spanish colonization of Latin America. Curanderos are the result of the mixture of traditional Indigenous medicinal practices and Catholic rituals. Curandero/a comes from the root curar in Spanish which translates to cure. Thus, a curandero/a is one who heals. Understandings of medicine and curing in Spanish America came from multiple different cultures, including Mesoamerican, European, and African. As access to hospitals and licensed medical doctors was rare in Latin America, the population relied on local ideas about what could cause illness and what could cure it. To seek the help of a curandera was not unusual in Latin American Society, despite the fact that the Inquisition kept a close eye on medical practitioners in colonial society. Females and males of different economic statuses, and different ethnic backgrounds all employed curanderas.What curanderos purpose
The main purpose of a curandero/a is to treat illnesses that Western biological medicine has no direct tie in. The conditions of these illnesses are embedded in the cultural and religious belief systems of the Natives of Mexico, and modern Latin America. Each treatment for these illnesses focus on the cleansing, or retrieval, of an individual's spiritual and physical energy. The treatments combine elements of the Catholic religion, spiritual rituals, and the addition of medicinal herbs that are used to target illnesses that are emotional, spiritual, and physical.The ailments that curanderas cured includes blindness, stomach sicknesses, toothaches, dropsy, and supernatural illnesses. A curandero/a can refer to a male or female healer. Historian Martha Few found records of male curanderos called "curandero sangradores" who were bloodletters. Martha Few also documented the account of Felipa de Xérez, a woman who had been blinded, regarding her interactions with a Colonial Guatemalan curandera, María García, who had made a reputation in her town in as a successful healer. Reputation was important for a successful curandera. Female healers depended on gossip, word of mouth, and practicing cures in front of other people in order to build a successful reputation. Furthermore, some curanderas were known for having reputations for curing specific kinds of ailments. For example, Few describes how María García was known to specialize in healing illnesses caused by spell-casting.
Links to the supernatural
Curanderos go beyond Western medicine, at times linking illness with spells, sorcery, god, or evil spirits. Mesoamerican culture believed the causes of illness to be binary, they were either natural or supernatural. These supernatural origins could be fright, evil air or winds, or aggressive sorcery. Because of this supernatural understanding of illness and the religious influence of the Catholic Inquisition, female folk healers were often conflated with brujas. The Inquisition found such accusations to be plausible and worrisome as evidenced by the records of officials pursuing criminal cases against curanderas. The Inquisition was mostly concerned with the supernatural aspect of healers rather than the botanical or medicinal remedies that were used. In the case of Maria Garcia, the Inquisition's investigation into her began because of accusations from female residents in her community who alleged her to be practicing sorcery and accessing the supernatural.Gossip and the inquisition
It was not unusual for the inquisition to rely on gossip, even from unofficial sources, as reason to investigate a curandera. Gossip surrounding curanderas actively legitimized their powers in the community and enhanced their reputations, but this attention also drew the notice of colonial authorities. Community gossip "interacted and intersected" with colonial authorities. Tipped off by the gossip, officials searched and collected accounts, and used them in official records of the Inquisition court. Gossip in the community had a two roles, functioning as a double-edged sword. It both legitimized women's power and provided the basis for their arrest.History in the United States
Historically, in the United States, curanderos were only found in concentrated Amerindian populations. It was largely thought that curanderos mainly practiced in New Mexico and along the Mexico–United States border. However, recent historical research shows that the practice of curanderismo was not restricted to the American Southwest. The practice of curanderismo was prevalent in the 1880s in Northeastern Tennessee.In the mid- to late 1970s the rise in ethnic minority and immigrant populations grew in tandem with the public presence of curanderos in areas outside of the historical geographic regions of the United States which had large Indigenous populations. Since the 1990s, it has become more commonplace to see curanderos in northern-tier cities in the United States.
Types of curanderos
There are many different types of curanderos. Yerberos are primarily herbalists. Hueseros are bone and muscle therapists who emphasize physical ailments. Parteras are midwives. Oracionistas work primarily through the power of prayer. Other types include sobadors, who are masseurs, and brujos or brujas, who are witch doctors.Among these broader terms, there are several subspecialties. For instance, yerberos who work primarily with tobacco to heal patients are known as tabaqueros. Healers who work primarily with ayahuasca are known as ayahuasqueros. Healers who work with peyote are known as peyoteros.
Although many curanderos do have a specialty and may identify with it, that does not mean that these healing modalities are necessarily strict and do not overlap. As an example, an oracionista may also be a yerbera, and so on.
Practices of curanderos
might seek out curanderos if the properties of their bodies are "hot" and "cold". Most of these practicing curanderos do not have formal medical training and inherit their gift or learn through being an apprentice. Often these faith healers have no office and work out of their homes. A significant factor why Hispanics seek out help from a curandero is because it is more affordable. Western medicine can often be more expensive, and some Hispanic families do not have the resources needed to be able to pay for them. Depending on the curandero, they might not charge for their services or just ask for a small offering or fee. You can find them in Hispanic communities to allow the members more accessibility to their services. Other reasons these communities might seek out services offered by curanderos are the language barrier and their immigration status. Curanderos are found in Spanish communities and can communicate better about their diagnoses and treatment. Unlike hospitals or healthcare workers that might have difficulty with a language barrier and complex medical terminology.Communicating correctly to your patients is essential, but it is even more challenging if you do not speak the language or do not have an interpreter. As for their immigration status, it can be challenging to get health care from government support, especially for undocumented. Many of these Latinos will pay in cash for health care services they do receive out of fear of getting their immigration status reported.
Curanderos and at-home remedies come as an advantage to these individuals if they cannot pay cash but will do so if things get severe and do not better with other remedies first. Considering that these practices align more with Hispanic cultural views and beliefs, many of these individuals used curanderos and traditional medicine or alternative medicine in their home country. It can also be seen as a way of preserving these cultural views. Spiritual healing is another reason why curanderos might be sought out, and Hispanics feel that medical providers cannot help heal spiritual issues that the body might deal with.
Clients find that curanderos are healers of both the body and spirit. If needed, a curandero can cast out the evil spirits that might reside in someone's body and do a full spiritual cleanse. These are practices one will not find western medical providers performing or trying to achieve. It is found that most Hispanics who seek curanderos for their services are born in their home country as opposed to Hispanics born in the United States. Hispanics who are less integrated into life in the United States seek these healers to connect and feel familiar with their home countries' traditionalism. These Hispanic community members can be dissatisfied with diagnoses or Western medicine practices. They feel that their provider does not believe in their folk illnesses, much less know how to approach and treat them.