Herbalism in the Tu'un savi and Mé'pháá Worldview in the Costa Chica of Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

The indigenous communities of Barranca Tecoani and Quiahuitepec lack allopathic medicine health services; however, they have a wide range of herbal knowledge, which is related to their worldview. The objective of this article is to identify the plants used in illnesses, in healing cleanses and in offerings of petition and gratitude, as a way of getting closer to the indigenous worldview Tu'un savi (Mixtec) and Mé'pháá (Tlapanec) in the Costa Chica of Guerrero. Through in-depth interviews with six healers, 63 species of medicinal plants were recorded with which more than 35 diseases are treated; likewise, it was found that the hot-cold binomial serves to classify illnesses, plants and forms of healing, and that herbal medicine is indispensable in healing rituals for emotional illnesses and for offerings in rituals of petition and gratitude made to the spirits. All these physical and spiritual elements are part of the worldview of the Tu'un savi and Mé'pháá indigenous peoples of the Costa Chica of Guerrero, where ancestral knowledge and practices are reflected in the use of herbalism, with which they obtain comprehensive health and spiritual well-being, which is essential to move towards Good Living.