Plants in Estonian Folk Medicine: Collection, Formation and Overview of Previous Research
Plants in Estonian Folk Medicine: Collection, Formation and Overview of Previous Research

Summary/Abstract: In present-day Europe, the knowledge of how to use plants in folk medicine is mostly obtained from written sources, such as books on popular medicine or pharmacopoeias. The situation in contemporary Estonia does not differ much. In addition to these sources, though, the Estonian scholars of the field can find information in a collection of the Estonian Folklore Archives, dating back to the middle and end of the 19th century. As such, this collection is unique in the world. The earliest part of the folklore materials are based on traditional Estonian ethnobotany, which is perhaps only slightly affected by written sources, as only few books or newspapers were published in local language until the end of the 19th century. The first appeal to collect folklore on ethnobotany was made in 1877 by a well-known pharmacist, Johann Georg No¸l Dragendorff, but the next collection campaign initiated by Jakob Hurt in 1888 yielded already impressive results. The article provides a survey of collecting and preserving Estonian folk medical lore from the 19th century onwards and casts light on the availability of medical care in Estonia at the time of the first appeals. Thereafter, the authors take a look at literary sources that may have been influential at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Also, an overview of most important research publications on Estonian ethnobotany is given and explicit course for future research charted.

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