Herbalist Native American exhibition in Zurich, Switzerland
- From: indiandna@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: 17 Jul 2006 20:10:10 -0700
Here is a great article about the Native American exhibition that is
now going on in Zurich, Switzerland.
This article is from SwissInfo.org:
The story of how a Native American medicinal plant was brought back to
Switzerland and made into a best-selling natural remedy is revealed in
an exhibition in Zurich.
Alfred Vogel discovered the healing qualities of the Echinacea purpurea
through his friendship with a Sioux medicine man, Ben Black Elk.
In 1952, Vogel, a respected herbalist, spent several weeks with the
Sioux in the Pine Ridge reserve in South Dakota to find out more about
their culture and medicine.
There he met Black Elk, a 90-year-old medicine man, from the Lakota
Oglala tribe. A friendship developed between the two men, based on
mutual respect and a shared love of herbalism.
Black Elk went as far as initiating Vogel in some of the secrets of
tribal medicine, including the therapeutic effects of certain plants.
Before the Swiss returned to his native Basel, he received a handful of
seeds belonging to the Echinacea or the purple coneflower.
The Lakota Oglala had been using the plant for generations as a remedy
for coughs, digestive problems, wounds and infections. It was also used
as an antidote against snakebites.
Healing properties:
Soon after his return Vogel was able to test out the plant's healing
properties on himself after he injured his foot while cutting the
grass. Impressed by the results, he took it into his laboratory to see
if he could make it into a preparation.
The result was Echinaforce, which went on sale in 1963 and is now a
popular remedy used to boost the immune system as well as fight off
infections.
This remarkable tale is revealed in a special exhibition at Zurich's
North America Native Museum. It shows some of Vogel's tools, such as
test tubes and mortars used to prepare medicinal substances, as well as
scales and medicinal herbs.
The museum is also showing some of the objects he gathered in the
course of his extensive travels around the globe, and old photographs
of Vogel with Black Elk.
"Without claiming to represent all the Swiss who went over to the
United States, our intention was to show the experiences of a few Swiss
who were among the first to go into the Native American territories,"
museum ethnologist Monika Egli told swissinfo.
Part of the exhibition is dedicated to another Swiss pioneer among the
Native Americans - Dorothee Jegen from Klosters in canton
Graubünden.
Along with millions of her compatriots, Dorothee and her brothers,
Peter and Christian, emigrated to the US at the end of the 19th
century.
"At that time Switzerland was a very poor country which offered few
work opportunities and where a large part of the population found it
hard to make ends meet," said Egli.
Pioneering bakers:
The Jegen family went to Billings, known as "Magic City", in Montana.
They opened a bakery, selling their products to the pioneers, workers
on the railway lines, gold prospectors and the local Crow tribe.
Not having much money, the tribe paid in kind, exchanging goods for
home-crafted items such as pairs of moccasins, some of which can be
seen at the museum.
However, life was not always easy for the intrepid Jegens or Yegens as
they became known, as is shown by the display of a gleaming pistol
owned by Dorothee so she could defend herself against bandits.
The bakery thrived though and the siblings opened a chain, becoming one
of the wealthiest families in the area.
Dorothee later married a man from Graubünden and returned to
Switzerland. Her two brothers remained in the US, with Christian
becoming mayor of Billings and later, senator for Montana. The American
dream come true.
swissinfo.
I hope you found this interesting.
Walt
http://AmericanIndiandna.com
.
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