Prácticas curativas y plantas medicinales: un acercamiento a la etnomedicina de San Nicolás, México

Abstract

There is an interest in the healing practices of traditional medicine as an alternative and complement to other medical practices. The aim of the article is to document the healing practices and medicinal plants which are currently used in a rural community in the State of Mexico. From the ethnomedicine, it is dealt with cognitive explanations about the binomial health-disease process. The ethnographic method is used to obtain and systematize information concerning the perceptions regarding healing practices and medicinal plants. Healing practices are the result of a traditional environmental knowledge and are conducted by the interest to help, rather than by an economic benefit. It is concluded that medical practices are an indicative of: 1) the survival of the Mesoamerican worldview to treat diseases of body and spirit; (2) they privilege an integral attention of the patient and, 3) the physical environment that surrounds people is a first aid bio-cultural kit.