School: Alt Achadh Doire (roll number 15474)

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1. Local Cures

   

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   Local Cures

   In olden times when there were no doctors people used herbs as cures.

   People say than when you have toothache to rub your jaw with a hares leg and the pain will be removed. They also say that toothache can be cured by rubbing a frog on your jaw.

   For warts people used to nib them with a snail and put it somewhere until it would die and when it dies the warts will go away. They say if you rub them with three slices of potatoes and when they are rubbed, hide the potatoes the warts will go away. They also say if you get three straws and rub the warts with them, then roll the straws in a piece of paper then throw then away. Whoever lifts the paper and opens it will get the warts and you will get rid of them.

   Once there was a woman who had a very sore leg. She went to Grenan and rubbed it with holy water and was cured.

   There is a girl in our district who has the cure for the whooping cough. She get two slices of loaf bread and put butter between them and rolls them up in paper. Then she sends the parcel to the one who has the whooping cough.
   They must open it themselves so that they soon get better. Another cure for the whooping cough is to go under a donkey three times and then give it some oat meal to eat and whatever the donkey drops while it is eating the person who had the whooping.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. medical practice
         1. folk medicine (~11,815)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Geraldine Anderson

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Castruse, Co. Donegal

   Informant

   James Anderson

   Gender

   Male