Pohã Ñana y Covid-19: Timeline of Traditional Medicine Use with Tereré and Mate Practices during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 Pandemic affected the globe and every individual in many ways that are still being investigated and discovered today. My research looks at how participants in Paraguay changed their cultural behavior around communal drinking of tereré and mate as well as what medicine(s) participants used around the Pandemic. Before the Pandemic, tereré (cold) and mate (hot) were shared between many people and it was rude, according to participants, to not invite or accept an invitation to such a culturally symbolic practice of hospitality and wellness. Now, in winter of 2023, the participants in my research expressed a need to find balance between old traditions and a new focus on hygiene from the pandemic. All participants reported changing tereré and mate drinking to drinking more with “gente de confianza” (trustworthy people) or drinking alone-together with “cada uno con su propio equipo” (each person with their own tea set up). Another element of my research was to investigate the “culture of medicine”, how traditional medicine and western medicine were both used (Torrie et al., 2013). Most participants reported use of pohã ñana (plant medicine), which is synonymous with traditional medicine in the native Guarani language, and western medicine. However, a few participants expressed bias stating that traditional medicine was “lesser than” western. I make conjectures as to reasons for this, based on modernization away from indigenous practices. This study analyses stories and perspectives from participants on how the Pandemic altered health behaviors and tradition which should be further investigated to better understand and prepare for future health crises.