Old superstitions & cures. I was one of the posters advising Albert to tread carefully when recommending some of his (?) old cures for this & that, as one or two of these sounded a bit silly such as the garlic around the neck or hips etc, (no such thing of course because they were 'proven cures' over hundreds of years), but a couple of the others were downright dangerous (drinking potions not proven to be 'cures' may cause people to get ill if not properly supervised). Someone on this forum mentioned the ladies with red chillies, reminded me of one occasion when I was dreadfully ill & even though my mother consulted a doctor (father was away 'on business' as usual) the doc could only prescribe some tablets, informing my mother told to increase my temperature by wrapping me up to cure me. One of our 'ayas' I remember said a pot of fire is what they used in their home for htis type of illness, so one was brought in & the room got a bit smoky, windows were shut so the coughing started when previously I had no cough at all! After a day or so, my mother reminded that I got gradually worse, but then my mother consulted a neighbour, she was told of a lady who cured one of her friends' children previously with similar symptons. My mother was no slouch, she consulted anyone & everyone she knew to ensure her child was not going to worsen. Sometime later, seemed like ages being smoked alive in this room, a lovely middle-aged lady walked in, asked for the pot of fire to be removed, cleared the smoke, closed the windows again, made me sit up, then to stand up, removed ALL my clothes & begun rubbing me all my body from neck to feet, all over with chillies. Oh my god, I was burning, burning everywhere! She did not leave a centimetre bare except I remember she left my face & head & I think the soles of my feet & palms of my hands without this concoction which appeared to be just chillies & a little water. It was not a paste, more just partly dried chillies with a little water rubbed all over. I had no energy for a few days prior to this CURE BY RED CHILLIES, nor during being SMOKED ALIVE the day before. I was left for what seems like hours with this feeling of being burned alive, but also felt chilly (not a pun) & then shivering begun......... I was on the way to being cured, it didnt feel that way to me! Next day I was up & about like nothing happened, eating, drinking and arguing with my younger brother, as usual........... SOME remedies, in the right hands DO work, but I must stress the type of red chilli, dried in certain way, sliced or cut up in strips, etc was the KNOWLEDGE this lady had. She probably saved my life! I DONT KNOW what was wrong with me, nor did my mother, but it was probably some type of FEVER it seems which had lasted too long, that lady may have known exactly what was wrong. I may have caught it from someone else, or by drinking unboiled water, fresh milk from the man who came by with his cow & we bought milk from him or whatever way this particular illness is passed on. My fondest of memories of this lady was just that I remember she was a rather large sweaty lady. No doubt handling red chillies every day & being in a room with no air, she had little choice in the matter, but the huge beads of sweat on her forehead dripping down to the end of her nose, down her cheeks & her talking calmly to me (cant remember what she said) but also some chanting she did whilst rubbing me all over ....... was all I could 'remember' of this nightmare, if it was a memory. I did not remember anything else before or after the application of this red chillies, except that I was hungry when I awoke!
John Monteiro Regards John Monteiro
