ethnobotany
On the ancient Mexican names of the hallucinogenic plants of the genus Solandra
Bernardino de Sahagún, cacahuaxóchitl, ethnobotany, Francisco Hernández, Mexico, Nahuatl, poyomatli, tecomaxóchitlBy: GIORGIO SAMORINI – Ethnographic evidence of the current use of plants of the genus Solandra as visionary agents among some Mexican ethnic groups leads to a reconsideration of these plants as possibly known and used for a long time by native populations and to a search for their traces in the precolonial past. One…
Studies on the iboga cults. IV. The ethnobotanical complex
By: GIORGIO SAMORINI – In this contribution on the cults of the hallucinogenic plant iboga of equatorial Africa, a definition of ‘ethnobotanical complex’ associated with the ritual use of a visionary plant is first given. The main intoxicant sources that revolve around the cults of iboga, specifically the religious cult of Bwiti, are then presented.…
Studies on the iboga cults. I. The ancient documents
By: GIORGIO SAMORINI – The hallucinogenic plant Tabernanthe iboga is used as a source of visions by various ethnic groups of western equatorial Africa in the context of a complex system of religious, therapeutic and divinatory practices that can collectively be defined as ‘iboga cults’. The most renowned are the religious cults known as Bwiti.…
An enigmatic psychoactive plant: the tenatsali of the Zuñis of New Mexico
By: GIORGIO SAMORINI – In the traditional world, the effects of intoxicating plants are usually interpreted as doors for access to, and communication with, the supernatural world. Alongside the more well-known species that have been subjected to in-depth ethnographic and scientific studies, the ethnographic documentation of the last two centuries is sprinkled with references to…
Il fagiolo del mescal fra i Nativi nordamericani
By: GIORGIO SAMORINI – “The mescalbean among the North American Natives” – With the name “mescalbean cult” or “mescalism”, a group of ritual practices of the North American Planes Natives are named, during which a vegetal psychoactive source was employed. The human relationship with this visionary source originates starting from the most remote antiquity, and…
The Tree of Life Design. From Central Asia to Navajoland and Back (with a Mexican Detour) Part 3
By: SANDRA BUSATTA – The Tree of Life design or Bird Pictorial in Navajo rugs first appeared around the turn of the 20th century. Usually this style portrays either a cornstalk or a tree growing from a basket. Birds are perched on them, and flowers, bees, and butterflies rabbits, squirrels or even farm animals may…
The Tree of Life Design From Central Asia to Navajoland and Back (with a Mexican Detour. Part 2
By: SANDRA BUSATTA – The Tree of Life is an archetype that appears in art and literature the world over, from the Biblical Garden of Eden with its Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge, to India, where the symbol is represented by a voluptuous woman with her arm around a tree that blossoms with…
L’olivo tra empirismo e scienza
By: ANTONIO GUERCI – La varietà di olivo che noi oggi conosciamo (Olea europaea L.) è il risultato di varie selezioni che iniziarono circa 6000 anni fa, allorquando agricoltori siriani e palestinesi riuscirono a ottenere lo sviluppo di una varietà ricca di olio e priva di spine. Il probabile progenitore botanico sarebbe infatti l’olivo selvatico…
Il betel
By: PIERANDREA COSTA – Il viaggiatore che percorre il sud est asiatico rimane sicuramente colpito dalle persone che hanno la bocca colorata da un intenso rosso e hanno i denti coperti da uno strato di tartaro nero che a volte esce dalle labbra: sono questi i segni che permettono di riconoscere i masticatori di betel.