Health - Grandmother Knows Best - Traditional Remedies

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Health

Grandmother Knows Best
Traditional Remedies

All societies have their folk remedies which are passed down from generation to generation, often through our grandparents. Many are still used today, even though they can sometimes seem bizarre and without any scientific basis. We have collected some traditional British and Polish remedies below. You can try to guess which country the remedy originates from and also work out the possible reason why it was used. To check if your opinion is the same as ours, click on the appropriate place.

REMEDY	AILMENT	POLISH OR BRITISH? + COMMENT
Cover yourself with a warm red cloth	Common cold or flu	Click to check
Rub with a 'Babka' leaf (Latin name Plantago lanceolatah)	Cuts, stings, headaches	Click to check
Cover with wet bread	A cut	Click to check
Eat cloves of raw garlic	Common cold (or virtually any ailment!)	Click to check
Put a vinegar-soaked compress on the forehead	Headache	Click to check
Rub chest and joints with paraffin and cover with greased baking paper	Cold or flu	Click to check
Put a sweaty sock round the neck	Sore throat	Click to check
Apply mustard compresses or 'plasters'	Chest colds, stiff muscles	Click to check
Gargle with salty water	Sore throat	Click to check
Take cod liver oil	Arthritis	Click to check
Tie a piece of black thread round warts	Warts	Click to check
Wear a copper bracelet	Rheumatism	Click to check
Eat cloves	Bad toothache	Click to check
Put a gold ring on it	Sty	Click to check
Spread sour milk or cream thickly on the skin	Sunburn	Click to check
Eat a hot curry	Common cold or flu	Click to check
Take the 'hair of the dog that bit you'	Hangover cure - you drink whatever it was that first gave you the hangover	Click to check

Follow-up Tasks

Project work

These are only a small number of the many thousands of traditional remedies. Using the model of the table above try to discover others from relatives and report back to class.

Discussion points

'Old wives tales based on ignorance and superstition' or 'the collected wisdom of nature and experience'. Which of these is closer to your view of traditional remedies?
Why are many of the Polish and British remedies the same?
Why do you think so many people in Poland turn for help to medical practitioners who claim to use their healing energy forces?
As more people move into the cities, what do you think will happen to traditional forms of medicine?
There is much talk nowadays of the 'globalisation of culture'. What does this term mean to you?
Recently drug and pharmaceutical firms have been joining together to form huge multi-national conglomerates. Are we seeing the 'globalisation of medicine'?
'Some patients recover simply because of their satisfaction with the goodness of their doctor' - Hippocrates. Do you agree?