Subject: Wild berries and women's nutrition and medicine.

From: [email-masked] (Larry London)
Date: 17 Oct 1994 03:07:42 GMT

>From  [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 94 19:25:52 -0700
From: Michele Lord <[email-masked]>
Reply to: [email-masked]
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Subject: Women's Berry Plants; Katsi Cook, Mohawk

>From Volume One, No. IV of INDIGENOUS WOMEN; the official publication
of the Indigenous Women's Network. [See End of Article]

     Using the Berry Plants for Women's Nutrition and Medicine
                                            by Katsi Cook, Mohawk

"The wild strawberry is the first berry food to appear in the
spring and this sacred plant is gathered at that time and eaten as
a blood purifier..."

    Wildberries remind us of our childhood. Indeed, they are a
special gift of Creation to the children and to women. Over
250 species or berries and fruits--strawberry, red raspberry,
currant, elderberry, juniper berry, cranberry, bearberry, to name a
few - in Native America are gathered and utilized for their
nutritional and medicinal value. Berries are delicious when eaten
raw, crushed and mixed with water and maple syrup or honey for
drinks; mixed with soups, bread, puddings and meats, and dried for
winter storage. The berries, leaves and roots can be collected and
used together or separately and drunk as a medicine tea. Among the
Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois), the wild strawberry is
regarded as the "leader" of the berries. It is the first berry food
to appear in the spring and this sacred plant is gathered at that
time and eaten as a blood purifier. The iron and minerals in the
berries and leaves of the wild strawberry make this favorite berry
plant a valuable blood remedy. Elderberries, red raspberry and
tender sumacberry sprouts are also used for their alterative, or
blood-building, properties.
    Wild berries are extremely rich in vitamin C. Vitamin C is a
water-soluble nutrient which detoxifies the body, promotes healing,
strengthens connective tissue, helps to absorb iron, and cooperates
with the B complex in maintaining the endocrine system. A severe
deficiency of Vitamin C leads to scurvy, a disease that was common
in Europe at one time and which was attributed then to "bad air."
Native peoples of Turtle Island had already recognized the dietary
basis of the disease and they knew how to prevent and cure it with
a variety of medicines from natural sources. Cranberries are
antiscorbutic, meaning that they are effective in preventing and
treating scurvy. They can be used alone or in combination with
other berries like sumacberry and other natural sources high in
vitamin C like the fresh, new tips of evergreens.
    Berries are also of great benefit to the urinary tract. They
act as diuretics (promotes the flow of urine) and they acidify the
urine to create a hostile environment for bacteria. Cranberry and
bearberry have long been used in the treatment of cystitis (urinary
bladder infection).
    Berries also have astringent properties, meaning that they
cause contraction of tissue and they arrest bleeding and discharge.
In this capacity, they are proven remedies for diarrhea and
leukorrhea.
    Blackberry root, in combination with wild strawberry leaves has
long been known as an effective remedy of diarrhea. Blackberry root
has also been used as a treatment for dysentery, a disease
characterized by extreme diarrhea and passage of mucus, blood, pus
and fluid.
    Kneeling upon soft mosses or standing at a bramble of thorny
harvest; their quick fingers dancing across bushes heavy with their
succulent fruit, our grandmothers gathered berries of many colors
with joy and grateful recognition. They used the berry plant as a
woman's medicine throughout their reproductive years for a variety
of purposes. Some berry plants help to stimulate and promote normal
menstrual function, others help to ease childbearing and
childbirth; still others alleviate menopausal symptoms or are useful
in the treatment of gynecologic complaints.
    Still today, Indian woman and children prize the various wild
berries that grow in our territories and we will travel long
distances and make camp and harvest those berries which aren't
quite as near to home. We join our elders in their lament that
gravel pits and concrete are causing the berry and other plants to
"turn their faces from the people and disappear."
    Using the berry plants for both nutrition and medicine is one
way that traditionally-minded woman can continue to keep their
strength and health within the cycles of the creation. Begin by
using those berries you were familiar with as a child, and seek the
guidance of someone who is knowledgeable about the berries in your
area to find the safest and most effective way to use them. If you
are on your moon, or still bleeding from childbirth, do not gather
the berries or any other plants. Have your grandmother, midwife or
someone else you trust do it for you. If you are pregnant, there
are some berry plants you shouldn't use, like elderberry roots.
Although its okay to eat the cooked berries, the roots contain a
toxic principle. Remember, too that although berry plants have much
nutritional value, they are only meant to supplement and enhance a
well-balanced diet. Like anything else, don't overdo it. More does
not mean better.
    Above all, as whenever you harvest the Creation's gift, give
thanks and acknowledgement to the Creator and to the plant, and
return something to the Earth so that her cycles may continue.

BERRIES FOR WOMEN'S NUTRITION AND MEDICINE
WILD STRAWBERRY: noon tak tek hah kwa
growing where the ground is burned

   Springtime is traditionally a time of cleansing the body from
impurities which accumulate in the system over the relative
inactivity of winter. Just as every menstrual cycle includes the
purification of the woman through her menses, it is also important
that she cleanse her body in harmony with the earth's cycles
through fasting or the use of bioactive plants.

    The whole strawberry plant; berries, leaves and roots - can be
used as they appear in your area in the spring for purposes of
cleansing the system. Both a blood purifier and blood builder, the
wild strawberry is a laxative, diuretic and astringent. The leaves
and berries are rich in iron and contain the minerals magnesium,
potassium and sodium.

    It is a teaching of many native peoples that during
menstruation and pregnancy the woman's body becomes highly toxic.
At menses and childbirth, it is important for a woman to rest. She
may also observe dietary restrictions such as not eating meat or
salt. Wild strawberry leaves and berries can be used alone or in
combination with other medicines to cleanse the woman's body during
her moon time and following childbirth.

    Also, if you eat too many strawberries during pregnancy, the
old women say, your baby will be born with a strawberry mark!

RED RASPBERRY: oo na joo kwa

    Of all the berries, this is among the most useful for women
throughout the reproductive years. The berries and leaves are rich
in iron and they also contain minerals-phosphorus, potassium,
magnesium- which help build the blood by carrying iron from stores
in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow to needy tissues, the
reproductive organs in particular. In pregnancy, tea made from the
leaves is good for nausea. Its action on the uterus assists
contractions and checks hemorrhage during labor and delivery. After
delivery, it strengthens and cleanses the system and enriches the
mother's milk supply. Raspberry leaf tea helps stimulate and
promote normal menstrual function.
    Steep 1 tablespoon fresh or dried leaves to one cup boiled
water, or 1 cut leaf to 1 quart boiled water for at least 5
minutes. Drink liberally throughout pregnancy, lactation and the
menstrual cycle. Raspberry leaves can be mixed with other berry
plants or with mint or honey to improve the taste and medicinal
action.
    The lukewarm tea in combination with slippery elm can be used
as a douche for leukorrhea (whitish discharge) of vaginitis or
menopause.

PARTRIDGEBERRY: noon kie oo nah yeah
noisy foot

    This berry was not generally used for food by humans, but was
used by the women as an excellent tonic for the female reproductive
area. Partridgeberry is a uniquely native american plant. It was
called "Squawvine" by colonists who saw Indian women using it, and
it continues to be called that by people who don't know the meaning
of the derogatory word "squaw."
    An in fusion, or tea, of the entire plant is used several weeks
before childbirth (do not use during the 1st or 2nd trimesters),
and can be used after delivery during breastfeeding. It is a female
regulator and tonic and can be used for all uterine complaints.
    Partridgeberry contains resin, mucilage, dextrin and saponin in
birthing medicine, but it cannot be used liberally and must be
prepared only by a knowledgeable person. Partridgeberry salve for
sore or cracked nipples:

 1. Cover 1 ounce whole plant with 1 pint oil (wheatgerm or olive
oil)
 2. Bake at 350 degrees for 2-4 hours.
 3. Remove plant parts from oil.
 4. Melt beeswax in the remaining oil and plant mixture and mix.
 5. Put in container and allow to cool.

It should be a creamy ointment. If it is too stiff, heat again and
add oil; if it is too thin, reheat and add beeswax.

JUNIPER BERRY: Gad

    The Navajo name is given for this evergreen shrub because it is
widely used in the southwest  mountain areas as a stimulant and
emetic. The needles are boiled and used for diarrhea and as a
postpartum stimulant. Juniper berries can be dried and used for tea
which has a laxative effect. Traditional Navajos use juniper
as an emetic (causes vomiting) to purify the system of both adults
and newborns. For adults, they say to put the leaves in warm water
when you get up in the morning, before you have breakfast. Then go
and run, and when you return, drink the liquid. It will make you
throw up and purify your body.
    Curly Mustache, a Navajo medicine man, in his account of the
First Navajo Birth in Ruth Roessel's book "Women in Navajo
Society", tells of the instructions given by the Holy people to the
Dine in childbearing. In the traditional way, a newborn baby is
given the juice of the inner white skin of the juniper bark.
Usually, a woman goes out and peels the bark off the juniper trees.
The white inside bark is peeled off and put into warm water until
it turns reddish. A teaspoon of this juice is given to the baby to
drink. This makes the child vomit the mucus and birthwaters it may
have swallowed and cleanses its insides. (N.B. I mention this
information for ethnographic purposes only.)
    Matilda Coxe Stevenson, a sensitive female anthropologist who
attended several births among the Zuni in the late 1800's, reports
that juniper twigs and berries were steeped in boiled water by the
Zuni and drunk by the expectant mother as a tea throughout labor
and delivery and afterwards to relax her system and cleanse the
uterus. She mentions, too, that the People believed that if they
drank the tea in the earlier stages of pregnancy, the child would
be very dark.
    The Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin C during pregnancy
and breastfeeding is 80-100 mg. This daily dietary requirement is
necessary for the formation of strong cell walls and blood vessels,
and it is therefore essential to the growth of the fetus and the
placenta.
    Mohawk people would prepare a tea high in vitamin C for
pregnant mothers which included white pine, cranberry and sumac
branch bark.
    During pregnancy or oral contraceptive use, a woman faces
increased susceptibility to urinary tract infection because of
rising blood levels of a reproductive hormone called progesterone.
Progesterone causes smooth muscle tissues, such as the bladder, to
relax. It also causes the ureters, the ducts leading from the
kidneys to the bladder to dilate. This action, in addition to the
pressure of the growing uterus during pregnancy on the ureters
and urinary bladder, may cause the bladder to become distended. The
resulting increased volume of urine makes the urinary tract more
hospitable to bacteria. It is important to drink lots of liquid to
dilute the urine to keep the urinary system flushed out. Cranberry
juice, best taken without sugar, contains hipuric acid which
inhibits the growth of bacteria.
    Cranberry leaves can be made into a tea and taken postpartum to
help prevent uterine infection in situations where the woman may
seem at greater risk, such as cases of premature rupture of
membranes.
    Etcetera: an extract of the bark of Blackberry roots and wild
strawberry leaves make a fine treatment for umbilical cord cure.

"Well, when I grew up, things were different. In my time there was
a lot of berries, a lot of game, fish, everything. But now
everything is gone - the roots, the berries. That is what I see:
they don't grow no more. The reason why is when they are ripe,
nobody prays when they grab the berries to put 'em in their mouth;
they just go in there and eat off the bushes. It's the same with
the roots. The old timers believed they had to pray for everything
before they tasted it. But now, they don't believe in anything
anymore...now you believe in the other way, you don't believe in
our Indian ways." - Agnes Vanderberg, 81 year old Flathead Elder

------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   Indigenous Women is an official publication of the Indigenous
Women's Network, a continental and pacific network of women who
are actively involved in work in their communities. IWN emerged
>from  a gathering of around 200 Indigenous women Yelm, Washington
in 1985. Women came from the Americas and the Pacific to tell
their stories, present testimony as to conditions, and to look for
strategies and alternatives to make a better future for our
families and communities. We discussed the issues of political
prisoners, land rights, environmental degradation, domestic
violence, health problems and other concerns which are pressing in
our community. We learned from each other and we found courage in
the experience. We wanted to continue tis work.
   Four years later, the Indigenous Women's Network was formally
organized by a group of women who were committed keeping up the
links between women working in their communities, and finding a
way to strengthen that work. Our philosophy is to "work within the
framework of the vision of our elders," and through this process,
to rebuild our families, communities, and nations. This publication
is one part of that process.
   The Indigenous Women's Network is a membership organization
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Membership information can be obtained at:
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Indigenous women are invited and encouraged to submit articles,
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Please do not send originals and include stamped, self-addressed
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   Contributers to Volume I, Number IV include:

Katsi Cook, O. Seumptewa, Victoria Manyarrows, Cate Gilles, R.
Bancroft, Mark Dowie, Debra Lynn White Plume, Sarah Lyons, Kay
Miller, Dr. Melanie McCoy, Mililani Trask, Nora Naranjo-Morse,
Buffy St. Marie, Allison Weiss, Ruth White, and Erika Zavaleta

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