1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910962068103321

Autore

Gonzales Patrisia

Titolo

Red medicine : traditional Indigenous rites of birthing and healing / / Patrisia Gonzales

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Tucson, : University of Arizona Press, c2012

ISBN

1-299-22406-7

0-8165-9971-8

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (314 p.)

Collana

First peoples : new directions in indigenous studies

Disciplina

615.8/808997

Soggetti

Indians of North America - Rites and ceremonies

Indians of Mexico - Rites and ceremonies

Traditional medicine - North America

Traditional medicine - Mexico

Birth customs - North America

Birth customs - Mexico

Healing - North America

Healing - Mexico

North America Social life and customs

Mexico Social life and customs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-266) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Introduction: Spiderwoman Called Up This Knowledge -- 1. Anatomy of Learning: Yauhtli, Peyotzin, Tobacco, and Maguey -- 2. Birth Ceremony: Storying Sacred Knowledge -- 3. Ceremony of Memory: The Call and Response -- 4. Ceremony of Sweeping: Symbols as Medicine -- 5. Ceremony of the Land ¿Y dónde está tu ombligo? -- 6. Ceremony of Time: Time as Medicine -- 7. Dreaming Ceremony: Medicine Dreams -- 8. Curing Ceremony: Spiders in Her Hair -- 9. Ceremony of Return -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Patrisia Gonzales addresses "Red Medicine" as a system of healing that includes birthing practices, dreaming, and purification rites to re-establish personal and social equilibrium. The book explores



Indigenous medicine across North America, with a special emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge has endured and persisted among peoples with a legacy to Mexico. Gonzales combines her lived experience in "Red Medicine" as an herbalist and traditional birth attendant ith in-depth research into oral traditions, storytelling, and the meanings of symbols to uncover how Indigenous knowledge endures over time. And she shows how this knowledge is now being reclaimed by Chicanos, Mexican Americans and Mexican Indigenous peoples. For Gonzales, a central guiding force in Red Medicine is the principal of regeneration as it is manifested in Spiderwoman. Dating to Pre-Columbian times, the Mesoamerican Weaver/Spiderwoman--the guardian of birth, medicine, and purification rites such as the Nahua sweat bath--exemplifies the interconnected process of rebalancing that transpires throughout life in mental, spiritual and physical manifestations. Gonzales also explains how dreaming is a form of diagnosing in traditional Indigenous medicine and how Indigenous concepts of the body provide insight into healing various kinds of trauma. Gonzales links pre-Columbian thought to contemporary healing practices by examining ancient symbols and their relation to current curative knowledges among Indigenous peoples. "Red Medicine" suggests that Indigenous healing systems can usefully point contemporary people back to ancestral teachings and help them reconnect to the dynamics of the natural world.