Not many years ago, some healers in the Pyrenees region traveled dozens of kilometers on foot to bring healing herbs and products to the surrounding farmhouses.
The profession of turpentine maker is already history, even if it's not written down. These women never left any written evidence to prove that this trade actually existed. Everything we know about them and their work has come down to us through oral transmission, through the memories of local people, especially the daughters and granddaughters of turpentine makers, and from people from outside the valley who saw them passing by or hosted them in their homes.
That's why I'm interested in recovering them and spreading the word through my blog about the ancient female craft of turpentine, an exercise in wisdom that stems from popular tradition.
The demographic pressure of the mid-19th century caused the seasonal exodus of many men and women from these valleys to wealthier areas. And it was in this context of social disintegration that many women from the valley dedicated themselves to extracting a means of survival from this harsh and ungrateful land. Walking, laden with herbs and oils, they would "cure and cure all ills" across Catalan lands. Thus, it seems that the first trementinaires' journeys began in the mid-19th century; in fact, collective memory has no record of the existence of this occupation before 1875.
Knowledge of plants, their medicinal properties, and the processes of making ancestral remedies, acquired through oral transmission, were, among others, the factors that motivated them to take up this new profession.
This trade absorbed the majority of the valley's female population for more than a hundred years.
They traveled once or twice a year and could be away from a few days to four months. Most of the trementinaires always followed the same route, since the people from most of the farmhouses they traveled were their customers year after year. They didn't usually go to large cities or frequent markets to sell their remedies, since they used a more personal and direct relationship with the people.
Of all the remedies sold by the trementinaires, the most sought-after product was undoubtedly turpentine, which is why outside the valley, people called the street vendors trementinaires. (We could translate it as "trementineras," although as it was a trade that only developed in Catalonia, there is no known official translation.)
The original turpentine production process begins with the extraction of red pine resin. Once purified, it is ready for use. When cold, it appears solid, crystalline, and dark. The known composition is a reprocessed turpentine from raw materials purchased at drugstores (Greek glue) and pharmacies (essence of turpentine).
Each turpentine maker made their own turpentine, and it came in different textures, colors, and fluidities. Turpentine's most common use was in the form of a patch to be applied to the affected area. Turpentine patches were widely used for pain relief, bruises, and sprains. It was also useful for treating spider and snake bites, ulcers, and serious infections, and for treating colds.
Although many of these women were illiterate, the trementinaires had all the necessary knowledge in their heads. Emília Llorens, one of the few surviving witnesses, accompanied her grandmother, Maria Majoral, on these trips from the age of seven to sixteen. Emília remembers that her grandmother always knew what to recommend in every situation.
One of the most surprising aspects of this profession is its nomadic nature. The trementinaires traveled on foot across vast territories, from the Lavansa Valley to the flat inland and coastal areas, selling their remedies. In some cases, they even reached the coastal strip, and there are accounts of them selling herbs at the Sant Ponç Fair in Barcelona.
Source: A messy drawer
Link: http://ow.ly/kJDz5