Medicine Ghost - December 2, 2009

Many people in Micronesia believe in using “local medicin” to heal. In Yap my family used some little remedies, usually involving cooked or crushed leaves that were eaten or placed on the body. Here on Falalop I am about to experience a much bigger remedy. There is a little boy that lives with us named Calvert. I am told that he has been sick for over a month with something that seems much bigger then local medicine. He has these bumps under his skin that have formed on the back of his neck, around his ears and jaw line and I think on his groin as well. His mother, Sylvia and other women have been cooking tree bark and placing it all over his body, but it does not seem to work.

A high schooler named Brandon just informed me that on Thursday they are going to begin a new remedy that seems much more elaborate. Apparently they believe that a medicine ghost could be possessing Calvert and they want to try and remove it. First we have to show the medicine ghost respect by walking with our hands behind our backs and slightly bent over (like you might if you were walking between people having a conversation). We also have to be done showering and home by 6pm and drink only coconut water for the next 5 days or so. The men cannot climb any trees during this time to show the ghost respect also.

At night is when it gets interesting. Sylvia and a man named Timothy – he came from a neighboring island to perform this local medicine – will walk around at night looking for the medicine ghost. The way they find it is by looking for trees that have shadows that look like scary people. When they find one they reach out and grab whatever they can and place it in their basket. they will then return home and prepare what they have collected. I’m not sure how many nights they do this for, but it sounds like it could be around 5 nights.

Brandon informed me on all of this and then told a story about a cousin he had that it worked on. They used the medicine collected and the ghost left her just like that! Who knows if there is any truth to these local medicines. I love learning about all of their remedies and seeing how they believe in their ways whole-heartedly. I think it is neat that using local medicine is a huge part of their culture and that even when they know and use western medicine they always try a local way first.