Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

lilac. Who knows? Perhaps while relaxing in her garden during these quiet hours of the evening, she was thinking how blessed she was with her happy family life and good health, how thankful she was that she had been so beautiful in her youth that many boys had chased her, admiring her good looks. On the old pictures that she kept carefully in the family album, she looked small with a healthy, thick mane of black, shiny hair. Her huge blue eyes shone like the stars under a navy umbrella of the night sky.

204 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

She liked to tell me about her teenage years, especially when she was 18. According to her, men approached women in a careful and gentle manner then. A manner of respect was a centuries-old tradition. When a young man approached a young woman, instead of leading with questions such as “What is your name? How are you?” they would present themselves with great reverence to the woman and say, “Please allow me to introduce myself. May I kiss your hand, mademoiselle?”

This tradition was based on human dignity and a show of respect from a young man to a young woman. This question revealed a noble intention to make a first connection; a curious, sincere interest; and attraction at first sight, not love at first sight.

It was once upon a time when my grandma sat in our Dream Garden with a handsome young man and heard the sweetest music to her ears—his first confession of love for her. As you might guess, the young man was my grandfather. He was a quiet, but ambitious and hard-working man. Later, with great motivational support from my grandmother, he created his “kingdom”

of vineyards and orchards. They sat many, many times there during the long, balmy evenings of late spring, discussing plans for their future while dreaming in the Dream Garden. They looked in unison at the starry sky through tiny white lilac flowers, observing the movement of the clouds and planets, which witnessed silently their love and trust for each other, their ringing laughter and ecstatic kisses.

I recently revisited our Dream Garden and found it is still as much alive as it was many years ago. Other people—strangers to me—live there now, but the nightingale’s soprano trill still fills the garden all night long until dawn and the air is still rich with the aroma of lilacs.

Nastoykas, with lilac flowers and buds from gardens like ours, are successfully used in folk medicine to treat rheumatism, osteoporosis (accumulation of salt in joints), podagra (inflammation of the feet), and heel spurs. Before I mention natural treatments

for asthma, I want to tell you a little

bit about how small, gracious, and

fragrant lilacs can be effective healers

in different sicknesses.

Trips to the Fairyland @ 205

r 1. Make Lilac Vodka. Add ¼ cup lilac flowers and crushed buds to one cup alcohol or vodka. Let steep for 8–10 days in a glass jar in a dark place at room temperature. Take 20–30 drops of lilac/

alcohol nastoyka or 50 drops of lilac/vodka three times a day. r 2. Add 1 tablespoon dried lilac flowers to five ounces alcohol at 40

degrees. Let steep for eight to ten days in a glass gar with closefitting lid. Take 30 drops two to three times a day. r 3. Soak a cheesecloth in the same nastoyka (#2) and rub painful parts or make a compress and apply where necessary for the treatment of rheumatism, salt deposit in joints, or knee spur. Lilac is effective for external treatment. Lilac bushes blossom in May and those who practice folk medicine gather the buds shortly after they bloom.

r 4. Fil three quart glass jars with fresh lilac blossoms. Add enough lamp oil or turpentine oil to cover. Cover with a lid and al ow to infuse for two weeks in a dark place. Then rub this mixture one to two times a day into painful joints until they are red. Then wrap this part of the body with a flannel fabric or wool scarf to keep it warm for one hour. Your pain wil disappear.

An ancient Greek legend tells that Pan (called

Faunas by the Romans), the god of forests

and meadows, nature and the universe, fell hopelessly in

love with a nymph named Syringe. This is the way that I

remember the tale, after years of hearing it from Grandma and Mama and many more years of sharing it with my own children.

Pan was strolling through a lush, sylvan setting when he met a river nymph named Syringe, known for heralding the dawn of a new day. Pan 206 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

was so spellbound by Syringe’s graciousness and beauty that he instantly fell in love with her and he lost sight of everything for which he was responsible.

He was so obviously struck by her that she became frightened of him and ran away. Pan pursued her, all the while trying to assure here that his intentions were noble. The nymph did not reply, but instead transformed into a fragrant bush with delicate purple flowers. Devastated, Pan fell to his knees and wept for many hours, soaking the earth under the lilac bush.

The next day when Pan revisited the bush, he saw that it was stronger and larger and that a profusion of new blossoms had appeared overnight. Its branches were