In order to preserve the ancestral knowledge of their people, the health guides of the Odami indigenous people of the Baburigam community, in Guadalupe and Calvo, documented the process of making cough and cold syrup, made from medicinal plants and herbs, in order to preserve the ancestral knowledge of their people. Growing in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua.
The idea is part of the Raíchali Communications Project that began in 2023, which seeks to encourage the creation of media content created by, or in partnership with, indigenous communities themselves.
While documenting the process, we talked and thought about the importance of freedom of expression for Indigenous peoples, and how documenting with audio, video, or text is another way to resist and preserve Indigenous culture and the knowledge of their ancestors.
“It is part of our culture because it was the ancients who taught us, our grandparents or more, very early to our grandparents and then to us, to survive diseases (…) We also have to teach our children what the name of the herb is and how long it is stored and collected,” shared one of the promoters involved in this process.
Eucalyptus, bay leaf, tominichi (dollar), guachichel, and jugol yoshiga (mullein) were just some of the herbs that were used to make the drink.
“We learned by sharing with other health promoters from other communities,” says another promoter.
The Odami women added to the preparation of the drink a “meadow song” which they sang to become part of the documentation. However, the health promoters stated that in the future they may seek to change this tune to adapt it more to the worldview of their people and so that they feel identified.
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This work was originally published in Raíchali, part of the media alliance of the Network of Journalists on Foot. Here you can refer to his post..
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