Remedies
One of the most prominent folk remedies is centered around the blackberry, that tasty morsel that grows wild across the South. It is used in jams, jellies, pies, and cobblers – and it is also considered the miracle drug of the backwoods. Blackberry roots are used in the treatment of diarrhea, sore throat and skin ulcers.
Cajun folk remedies include the use of cayenne pepper as a digestive aid because it stimulates gastric acid production. If a cayenne-based poultice or salve is applied to specific areas where pain is present, it is said to help treat neuralgia and rheumatism. The strong coffee that Cajuns love often contains chicory, which also has diuretic and laxative side-effects.
Bayou country folk do put stock in their healers and physics, though this is not to confuse the New Orleans voodoo of Marie Laveau with the women who claim to have the gift of healing and sight. I know of one such Cajun woman in Acadia Parish who gives remedies and herbal concoctions to people who visit her, and she also sees into the future for them. When I went to interview her for a project, she told me about an elderly gentlemen who came to her every week for his “rooster pills.” When I asked about the pills, she said that they were sugar pills but that he thought he needed them for virility. Today he would probably get Viagra, but back then, the rooster pills apparently worked. Her prediction for my future worked, too, as she told me I would be living in Mississippi again. She was right!
