Your Take on Latinx Traditional Diseases and Acting Out Video: Coexisting Beliefs

1. Empacho is a form of stomach upset which is believed to be caused by a bolus of undigested food (Fishman et al). This can happen by eating the wrong foods at the wrong time of the day or eating undercooked foods.

1. This traditional disease articulates post-traumatic syndrome (PTSD) in colloquial terms. The rituals prescribed may be of little help, but the social acknowledgement of the trauma that the ritual represents can certainly be therapeutic.

1. Caida de mollera means sunken fontanel and is believed to be caused by pulling a baby away from the breast or bottle too quickly, having the baby fall to the ground or carrying the baby incorrectly. Symptoms include poor suck, irritability, sunken eyes, vomiting and diarrhea. The treatments include pushing up on the baby’s palate with a finger, holding the baby upside down over a pan of water and slapping the bottoms of his feet, and applying a poultice to the fontanel.

2. This traditional disease enforces a healthy life recommendation: eating in moderation and preventing heavy foods at night. It provides a visual reminder to promote the dietary rule: food gets stuck in your system if you do not eat properly.

1. Susto or fright sickness is caused by a traumatic or frightening experience. Symptoms include lethargy anxiety, depression, insomnia, and irritability. Treatment includes herbal teas, covering the face with a cloth and sprinkling holy water, and spitting a mouthful of water or alcohol into the patients face unexpectedly.

3. This traditional disease expresses the anxiety a young mother may feel for the well being of her child. This anxiety associated with motherhood is a universal experience. In the case of Latin America, both indigenous peoples and Spaniards believed in the power of magic. This belief can increase the anxieties of a young mother. The elaborate ritual allows the mother to put these fears to rest. 

1. Mal ojo or evil eye is caused by a person with a “strong eye” and occurs when someone admires a child without touching them. The cure involves passing an egg over the body and then placing it in a bowl under the child’s pillow overnight. If the egg is cooked in the morning then the child had “mal de ojo”.

4. This traditional disease attributes diseases to the ill will of others. If the disease is a somatic expression of social tensions to stress (insomnia, breathlessness, cardiac arrhythmia) the rituals of the bruja may help address those tensions. Of course, these rituals will not be able to cure other diseases.

1. Mal puesto is when someone uses witchcraft to put a bad disease on a person. The hex can be placed by a bruja (witch) or someone who knows about witchcraft. Symptoms can be varied and the cure involves prayers, massages, herbs, making crosses on the arms with olive oil and chili powder, and medicinal enemas.

5. This traditional disease enforces the importance of treating the baby delicately. The visual of a baby with sunken eyes or fontanel is a reminder that violence to the baby should be avoided at all costs and enforces this rule with the idea that there will be visible signs of that violence that the community will recognize.