Book Chapters – Άνθρωποι και φυτά στο νησί της Κέρκυρας

Plants and People on the Island of Corfu – An Ongoing Relationship...

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Acknowledgements

This work is dedicated to the local people of Corfu, the island that has been home to me for more than twenty years. I feel...

1. Introduction

There was a time, not so long ago, that most people living in the Corfiot countryside were able to identify a large number of plants...

2. Focus of the Study and Research Methods

Five years ago, while I was waiting outside the community doctor’s office with my father-in-law, who came to live with us after a big earthquake...

3. Geographical and Historical Framework: The island of Corfu

Corfu is an island on the northwest border of Greece. It stands between the Greek mainland, Albania and Italy. It is surrounded from the small...

4. Domestic Medicine

Although Corfiots relied on herbs for healing, they didn’t really have a medicine cabinet. Herbs were kept hanging upside down in the kitchen and many...

4.A Colds and Flu

Garlic has always been the main means to prevent illness. Women traditionally incorporated large amounts of garlic in everyday food to keep their loved ones...

4.B Accidents

The most common plant used for wound healing in first aid situations was Inula viscosa. The scientific name has recently changed to Dittrichia viscosa but...

4.C Personal Care and Beauty

Women of Corfu had no time to spend on trying to look beautiful since they were working all day long in the fields and then...

4.D Pain

Most of the scarce information on pain concerns pain in the joints, arthritic pain and pain from colds and flu. Corfu is an extremely damp...

4.E Miscellaneous

1. Violet, Viola odorata “My grandmother used to tell me: ‘Put violets under your pillow to have the sweetest sleep. They are great for anger.’...

5. Plants for Food: wild edible greens, mushrooms and fruit

Wild Edible Greens – Horta Wild greens have been, and still are, the main food to sustain people in Greece. Wild edible greens and bread...

6. Domestic Use

People at that time used plants in many ways that we would have never thought of nowadays. This was a time when there was no...

7. Local Plants in Religious Practice

Most of the population on the island of Corfu belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church. There are also Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans and Jews who hold...

8. Family and Community Ceremonies

In almost every house in Corfu, there was a home altar where the family icons were placed. Family icons are passed from generation to generation...

9. Epilogue

“My grandmother used to sing to nettles before harvesting… and they never stung her.” (Spiros Thimis) Spiros shared this memory with me almost two years...

10. Bibliography

Bibliography in Greek Αποστολοπούλου – Μιχαηλίδου Ε., Η Μάσιγκα των Παξών. Η γιατρός Μαρία Μητσιάλη, 1895-1981, Αθήνα, 2008 Αρμένη Ελένη , Εμισκοβόλουνε…, Εκδόσεις Λοράνδου, Κέρκυρα,...