In Chile there are large tracts of sparsely populated territory where
there are neither doctors nor drug stores, and in such communities
it is necessary in case of illness for the people to resort to home
remedies. In these rural communities there are many old women who
assume the rôle of doctresses, calling themselves “Medicas.” They are
absolutely ignorant of medicine or its effect upon the human system,
yet with their odd preparations of herbs they sometimes effect cures
within a very short time. However, it is said that they more frequently
kill than cure the persons they treat. Should the patient live for
several days under the treatment of the Medica, and then die, nothing
is said by the friends of the deceased, but should the victim succumb
with the first dose the doctress is asked to change her residence at
once.
“Brujeria,” or witchcraft, is common among the women in the lower
classes in Chile, many of whom claim to be “brujas,” or sorceresses.
The women profess to be able to inflict strange and wonderful
punishment upon their enemies, or persons who refuse to accede to
their demands. The most common delusion of these superstitious people,
especially the women, is the power of the “brujas” to place reptiles
or insects in their stomachs. Frequently when one becomes ill or
distressed with a pain, she is possessed with the idea that she has
been bewitched, declaring that she has a frog, a toad, a snake, spider,
or other object in her stomach, placed there by a sorceress. These poor
women believe that they cannot recover from an illness of this sort
until they have made peace with the person having bewitched them, which
means the giving of money or its equivalent in presents. It is a sort
of faith cure, and any other treatment seems useless, as it will not
dispel the delusion. The man or woman with dropsy or other affliction
will almost invariably attribute the malady to an evil sorceress. These
superstitions even extend to matters of business and chance with the
country people. The methods employed by these witches are curious and
ridiculous. Many claim, and the claims are accepted as true, to be able
by slipping into the presence of an enemy and burning a certain kind of
herb or vegetable, to place the person in their power. In some cases
persons so bewitched assume a form of madness, which unfits them for
service, and sometimes makes them dangerous. Many of these people claim
to cure disease by prayer.
There are few diseases among the ignorant country people attributed
to legitimate causes. They are believed to be due to the influence of
witches; to be ill from any cause is to be bewitched. It is one of the
many superstitions inherited from Indian ancestors, and is deep rooted
in the minds of the people.
To predict the elimination or uprooting of these primitive customs
would be hazardous, as they are countenanced, fostered in the minds of
the people and encouraged by the priests. They preach and teach the
supernatural, and in the rural districts the clergy sell “santitos”
(small images representing saints), and medallions that are alleged
to have been consecrated by them, as cures and preventatives for all
kinds of diseases and maladies. Sometimes when a liberal donation has
been made to the church, the donor is given one of these consecrated
objects, which is highly prized, and the curative powers of which are
never doubted by the possessor. Although the laws of the Catholic
church prohibit its members from eating meat on Fridays, the priests
sell privileges, called “bulas,” which permit purchasers to eat
whatever kind of food they like on that day. A very poor person can
secure a bula for fifty centavos, while a well-to-do member will pay
according to his ability, and very rich people in Valparaiso and
Santiago have paid as much as one thousand pesos for the privilege of
violating a fundamental law of the church. With the encouragement of
such beliefs and practices by those who are accepted as teachers and
who should stand as exemplars of moral and intellectual progress, it
is little wonder that the masses among the poor and ignorant cling
tenaciously to customs that seem obsolete in this age of enlightened
progress.
Superstitions are generally prevalent among the better classes also,
particularly those engaged in agricultural pursuits. It is believed
that sowing, reaping, planting, wood cutting, grafting or pruning
trees, storing of crops, etc., should be done during the last quarter
of the moon. Seed planted during the new moon will not grow, crops
harvested will be damaged, trees pruned will die, etc. The weather for
the following month is always judged by the Indian sign indicated in
the position of the new moon on its first appearance.
A curious superstitious custom in Chile is the manner of marking the
place where a person has been killed by accident or murdered. Along
the country roads one frequently comes upon a crude sort of altar by
the roadside, which marks the last resting place of some victim of
violence. It may consist of a little enclosure made of rough boards
and covered with the same material, in which lighted tapers are kept
burning practically all the time. In each of these places there is a
small box for the reception of coins, and many passers-by add small
contributions to the collection, and when the candles have burned out,
the money in the receptacle is used to purchase more. A strange feature
of this practice is that no sneak thief, of which there are many in
every community, will ever rob one of these houses of the dead. He has
a superstitious belief that the money is sacred, and that the one who
steals it will be cursed.
The cry of the “chuncho,” a sort of night owl, is regarded as an evil
omen by all classes. People who are otherwise apparently sane on
hearing the cry of this bird in the night indulge in actions indicative
of a peculiar form of madness. If in bed they leap out, get down upon
their knees, cross themselves, pray, beat their chests and appeal to
God to save them from impending calamity. The origin or significance of
this particular superstition has never been satisfactorily explained.
One of the superstitious customs that still prevails, and which is
practiced on religious feast days, especially that of San Juan, is
fortune telling. Matrimonial fortunes are told with three potatoes,
one of which is peeled, from one, half the peeling is removed, and one
is left in its natural state. These potatoes are placed in a dark room,
and the woman seeking her fortune is directed to go into the room,
and to take the first potato with which her hand comes in contact. If
it is the peeled potato, she is to marry a poor man; should it be the
half-peeled tuber, she will marry a man who can clothe and support
her, and should she be lucky enough to secure the unpeeled potato, she
is destined to marry a man who can keep her in comfort and plenty. So
firm is the faith of many of the people in the fulfillment of these
superstitious prophecies that they invariably preserve the potatoes
thus drawn, to be eaten on their wedding day. Another superstition
among the country women is that of washing their hair at daylight on
the morning of the feast of San Juan. They believe that the practice
will cause the hair to grow luxuriantly during the year.