Healing, Traditionally Trivia Quiz

Answer: Women's health

The Kahun Medical Papyrus also known as the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus is believed to date back to 1800 BC making it one of the world's oldest medical texts. Discovered in 1889 near a workman's village called El-Lahun in Egypt, the text is divided into 34 sections.

The Ancient Egyptians considered the uterus or womb to be the 'giver of life'. Most of the illnesses or their symptoms were therefore believed to have originated with problems in the uterus. The text covers a gamut of topics like fertility, menstruation, child birth and other gynaecological problems.

Answer: Gout

In earlier times, gout was known as the king's disease or rich man's disease since it was believed to have been caused by excessive consumption of alcohol or food. Demetrios Pepagomenos was a Byzantine Greek from Constantinople (now Istanbul). He was appointed as court physician by Michael VIII Palaeologos who reigned as the Byzantine Emperor in the mid 13th century. Demetrios' best known work is a treatise on gout.

However, he did not correctly identify either its causes or the treatment. The treatment was developed by John Chumnus, albeit utilizing Demetrios' work as a base.

Answer: Smallpox

Sopona or Shapona is the god of smallpox in the Yoruba religion. The Yoruba people are an ethnic group from Western Africa. The Yoruba believed that smallpox was caused by people displeasing the Sopona who then showed his wrath by inflicting the disease. Only select priests were allowed to perform rituals associated with the Sopona.

In the early 20th century, the British colonial rulers of the region banned the practice of worshipping the Sopona believing the priests were themselves causing outbreaks of the disease for their own vested interests.

However, the worship continued in secret. The worship of the Sopona was also taken to the Americas by the Yoruba. In Latin America, he is venerated as Babalú-Ayé.

Answer: The Sami

The Sami are the indigenous people who inhabit the northern parts of Scandinavia and parts of Russia. This region was formerly known as the Lapland but is now called the Sapmi based on the native name. The Sami traditionally venerate the sun and the sun deity Beaivi.

They believed that mental illnesses like depression were caused by the long winter months when the sun was not visible. Therefore they considered the Beaivi to hold the powers to restore sanity.

Answer: Indonesia

Jamu is a form of traditional medicine from Indonesia. It is mainly herbal, made of leaves, bark, roots, seed etc. Originating from the island of Java, Jamu literally means "the concoction of the Javanese". In earlier times, Jamu was widely practiced in the royal courts of the Javanese.

While the practice does have influences of the Indian traditional medicine called Ayurveda, it uses many ingredients native to the Indonesian islands and which are not found in India or Ayurveda.

Answer: Maya

The oldest sweat bath discovered by archaelogists dates back to 900 BC and is located in Belize. The sweat bath is akin to a sauna. The Maya used sweat baths for various purification rituals. However, it was also used for treatment and health purposes. One of the main uses was by midwives for postpartum treatment of new mothers.

Answer: Throat diseases

Saint Blaise was a physician and the bishop of the historical city of Sebastea (then part of Armenia, now part of modern day Turkey). The earliest written record of Saint Blaise is in the works of Aëtius of Amida, a Byzantine Greek physician. Aëtius notes that the saint helped people suffering due to objects stuck in their throats. Per one account, he helped a young boy who was choking due to a fish bone getting lodged in his throat. February 3rd is celebrated as the feast day of Saint Blaise and some churches conduct a "Blessing of the Throats" rite.

In this, the priest holds two crossed candles near the throats of the members of the congregation as a blessing.

Answer: Frog

Kambo is a species of leaf frog endemic to the Amazon basin. In Kambo cleansing, the arm or leg of the patient is burnt. The skin secretions of the kambo are then applied directly to the burn. While folk practitioners claim this therapy can heal a multitude of illnesses, there is no scientific evidence to back this up. Instead this therapy is regarded as pseudoscience.

Answer: South America

Malaria (named after the Italian term for 'bad air') was erroneously thought to be an airborne disease for centuries. With the diagnosis itself being incorrect, treatments tried in Europe proved to be ineffective, ranging from amputating limbs to bloodletting, none of which had any tangible effect on the disease.

It was only in the 17th century that Jesuit missionaries in Peru noticed that the native people in the Andes used a traditional medicine for the treatment of chills. This included the bark of the cinchona tree which contains quinine, a compound still used in the treatment of malaria.

This came to be known in Europe as Jesuit's bark. The tree itself was named cinchona after the Countess of Cinchona, a Spanish noblewoman who was treated with the bark and recovered, leading to the medicine being hailed for its miraculous properties.

Answer: Aboriginal Australians

Traditional medicine developed by the Indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is known as bush medicine. These medicines use various plants and flowers that are native to Australia. When the Invasion of Normandy was planned, the Allies were in search of medication to prevent seasickness in the soldiers.

It was then that they came across indigenous medication developed by the Aboriginals in Australia. Made out of a plant called Duboisia myoporoides, a type of soft corkwood tree, the medicine was developed by Aboriginals from the eastern part of Australia. Large quantities of the plant and medicine were secretly shipped to Europe and used to prepare seasickness tablets. Every soldier was given this medication before they set sail across the English Channel.