Post by Joanna on Oct 19, 2013 23:40:15 GMT -5
The Secret Healers
The old tradition of powwow, or braucherei, a largely faith-based approach to treating and preventing sickness, quietly survives in some corners of Berks County. It has medieval roots and isn’t based on medical principles, yet many Berks Countians, even today, turn to a powwow practitioner for relief of pain and suffering.
Powwow practitioners work one-on-one to apply their art, frequently in the home, and not in front of large audiences like the TV evangelists. They refuse direct payment for their assistance.
Pennsylvania Dutch in nature, the practice is common in Berks, perhaps because the definitive guideline or reference book, Der lange Verborgene Freund (The Long Lost Friend), was published in Berks in 1819 by John George Hohman. He emigrated from Germany in 1799 as an indentured servant. Don Yoder, author of Twenty Questions on Powwowing, describes Hohman’s book as the most influential German book ever published in Pennsylvania. Hohman certainly didn’t write it, but based its content on previously published work, so it should probably be thought of as a translation from German with some annotation.
Patrick Donmoyer, an exhibit specialist at the Pennsylvania German Heritage Center at Kutztown University, is a student of the culture. He said powwow has a positive aspect. Practitioners are empowered by Christianity and are different from hexerei, who are believed to draw their powers from Satan. It is not officially recognized by the Protestant church, but neither is it condemned.
In practical terms, the most commonly encountered modern example of powwowing is probably the “curing” of warts. Donmoyer describes the wart-removal procedure this way: “During a full moon, the practitioner rubs half of a raw potato counterclockwise over a wart, saying ‘What I rub, may it decrease.’ Traditional instructions say to bury the potato half under the eaves of the house.” Donmoyer said it was probably done that way to speed rotting from rain runoff, since most homes did not have gutters and downspouts in those days. As the potato rots, the wart disappears, he said. Today, practitioners generally bury the potato under the downspout.
Numerology also plays a role in powwow. Donmoyer cited a cure for hiccups: seven swallows without a breath, for example. But as it is with any folk art, there are many variations in practice. Some will use only words, others only prayers or Bible verses and some will speak only Pennsylvania Dutch.
There is also risk. As the wart is transferred to the potato, disease may be transferred to the healer to be cast out by prayer.
There are certain standard procedures, according to Donmoyer. Rubbing anything counterclockwise removes or draws out the offending malady. Clockwise motion is used to add, not remove. “Hohman’s book does not explain how to proceed,” he added, noting that generally, work is done during a full moon or a waxing moon. A practitioner will always work from top to bottom, then right to left, while the patient is seated facing east, he added.
However, most practitioners don’t rely on Hohman’s book, Donmoyer continued. It became popular as a sort of talisman: Lay people carried the book with them as a type of protection from their enemies and from disease.
The knowledge is passed cross-gender. With some known exceptions, a woman must teach a man and a man must tutor a woman, he explained. Not everyone has the gift.
There are still healers active in powwow. They fall into two general categories: family and the professionals, who sometimes keep office hours. But it is unlikely a family healer would deny help to a stranger or neighbor who needed treatment.
Practitioners are not permitted to accept payment from the hands of the patient. This usually meant leaving consideration behind where it could be easily found, or by having another handle the transaction. Payment was typically according to what the patient could afford. But there were incentives for patients to be generous. Leave too little and the practitioner might refuse to see you next time. Worse, the disease could return.
Though powwow is still practiced, you won’t find a practitioner on Google or in the Yellow Pages, Donmoyer added. Their services are known only by word of mouth.
Pennsylvania German expert David W. Kriebel, author of Powwowing: A Persistent American Esoteric Tradition, writes that healers are not only practicing today, but are likely to continue. “The interest in the practice shown by children and grandchildren of active powwowers suggests that the practice will persist in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in some form for at least two more generations,” he wrote.
Kriebel, who was able to interview several practitioners and their patients, attributed the low profile to opposition from religious leaders and fear of being labeled crazy.
As for Hohman’s book, you don’t need to prowl the antique markets to find a copy. Donmoyer has painstakingly compiled and published an English translation, with his annotations, that can be purchased through the Pennsylvania German Heritage Center. Proceeds benefit the center.
Skeptics who believe powwow healing is a thing of the past will be interested to find that Homhan’s book is available at Amazon in hardcover, paperback and a Kindle version.
Source: Terry Scott Reed, The Reading Eagle, May 29, 2013.