Folk healers

Curanderos, sangomas, hakims and the village healer, who mix remedy and ritual.

Folk healers are the people communities turn to when someone is ill: the curandero and curandera of Mexico and the Andes, the sangoma and inyanga of southern Africa, the hakim of the Islamic world, the vaidya of India, the bone-setter, the village midwife and the Siberian shaman. They combine remedies, ritual and counsel. This page describes them as tradition, not as medical advice, and illness needs real medical care. They are found in every society and are usually the nearest source of help.

What healers do

A healer listens to a person's story, names the trouble, and prescribes a course that may involve plants, diet, prayer, cleansing, a gathering of kin, or a sacrifice. The framing often covers the family and the spirit as well as the body. Healers are frequently the first and sometimes the only help available in places far from clinics. Treatments often involve plants, massage, steam, prayer, fasting and dietary rules, and the healer's own reputation counts for a great deal.

Who becomes one

Some healers inherit the role, some are called by ancestors, and some train as apprentices. Women are prominent as midwives, herbalists and spirit healers, though status and income often go to male specialists and licensed practitioners. In Latin America, curanderos draw on Catholic saints, Indigenous plant knowledge and Spanish folk medicine. In Ethiopia, the debtera works with scrolls and church learning. Some healers are called through illness themselves, which is described as a mark that they can heal others.

States and doctors

Law treats healers in different ways. India's AYUSH ministry supports Ayurveda, Unani and others. South Africa passed a Traditional Health Practitioners Act in 2007. Elsewhere, healers face police action under witchcraft or quackery laws, and in colonial times many were banned outright. Doctors sometimes work with healers, for instance in HIV outreach in Africa. Healers in some regions are also asked to settle family quarrels, since illness is held to follow from tension in the household.

Harm and caution

Harm can come from delay, from unsafe substances, from sexual or financial abuse of patients, and from fraud. Exorcism of mental illness has led to deaths. Anthropologists add that healing rites can bring comfort and social support that clinics sometimes lack. Anyone with a serious symptom should see a qualified clinician, whatever other help they seek. In places where clinics are far away, a healer may deliver babies, set bones and treat fever, and the quality of that care varies widely.

Folk healers on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇲🇽 MexicoNagualnāhualli A Mesoamerican belief in humans who shapeshift into animal counterparts.Belief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Living

🇸🇳 Senegal and 5 moreMaraboutmurābiṭ A Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa, often linked to Sufi brotherhoods.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇦🇴 Angola and 2 moreKongo religionBukongo The animistic beliefs and ancestor veneration of the Bakongo people in Central AfricaTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreRainmaking rites Ceremonies performed to call rain through prayer, dance, or symbolic actsRite · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇧🇴 BoliviaThe Witches' MarketMercado de las Brujas A La Paz market where Aymara women and yatiri sell ritual items for Pachamama offeringsTradition · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living

🇨🇱 Chile and 1 moreCultrunkultrung A ceremonial drum central to Mapuche spiritual practice and identity in Chile and ArgentinaTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreMutiumuthi Traditional medicine practice in Southern Africa using plants, animals and mineralsTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇨🇫 Central African Republic and 5 moreWitchcraft in Africa Beliefs about supernatural harm and the social responses to accusations across the continentBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo and 4 moreNganga A spiritual healer and ritual specialist in Kongo religion and its diaspora traditionsTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka and 1 moreKataragama templeකතරගම / கதிர்காமம் முருகன் கோயில் A Sri Lankan shrine shared by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and VeddasTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇲🇲 MyanmarBurmese folk religionNat Worship Animistic worship of nature spirits and ancestors in Myanmar, often practiced alongside Buddhism.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMarie Laveau A New Orleans priestess and herbalist who led Louisiana Voodoo in the nineteenth centuryTradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇮🇸 IcelandGaldergaldr A Germanic incantation and the written charms derived from itText · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreBhootभूत A restless spirit of the dead in South Asian belief and folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEuropean witchcraft Historical beliefs in harmful magic and the resulting trials across EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇹🇳 TunisiaStambeli A Tunisian music and possession rite practiced by Black communities of slave descentTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreAmulet A portable object worn or carried to ward off harm and invite protection.Charm · Protection · Healing Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMagic in Anglo-Saxon Englandgaldorcræft Healing charms and protective rituals practiced by early English tribesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreShamanism in the Qing dynasty State-managed rituals of the Manchu rulers and their shamansTradition · Protection · Healing Historical 🇵🇭 Philippines and 1 moreTaotao Monataotaomo'na Ancestral spirits of the Mariana Islands who guard wild places and influence daily lifeBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Living

🇲🇿 Mozambique and 1 moreNdau witchcraft and sorcery A system of spirit belief and traditional healing among the Ndau people of Mozambique and ZimbabweTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇫🇮 Finland and 2 moreTietäjä A traditional Finnic healer and sage whose power came from memorised spells and deep knowledge.Figure · Healing · Protection Historical 🇸🇩 SudanWitchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande A foundational anthropological study of Azande witchcraft, oracles, and magic in southern Sudan.Text · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇲🇾 MalaysiaBobohizan A high priestess and spirit medium in the traditional rituals of the Kadazan-Dusun people of Sabah.Tradition · Healing · Protection Fading

🇮🇷 Iran and 2 moreSuperstitions in Muslim societies Beliefs in supernatural forces and charms found across the Islamic worldTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ) A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living

🇺🇸 United StatesChristian views on magic A spectrum of Christian beliefs about magical practices, ranging from strict condemnation to esoteric integration.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇮🇹 ItalySegnature An Italian folk healing rite using gestures and prayers to cure illness and remove cursesRite · Healing · Protection Living

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Bhoot: Anilbhardwajnoida, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Bald's Leechbook: Unknown, the Internet Archive scan is low quality, and some of the tex, Public domain, source
Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
Witchcraft in Latin America: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Amulet: Anonymous ( Egypt ) Unknown author, Public domain, source
Nkisi: MiddleOfAfrica, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Stambeli: Youssefbensaad, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Nagual: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Marabout: Jan Broekhuijse, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Rainmaking rites: SJasminum, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
The Witches' Market: Dan Lundberg, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Cultrun: Universidad Nacional de La Plata, CC BY 3.0, source
Muti: Nicholas Roux, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Kataragama temple: Ghostface Buddha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Burmese folk religion: Wagaung ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Marie Laveau: E. W. Kemble, Public domain, source
Galder: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
Shamanism in the Qing dynasty: A nineteenth-century team of editors., Public domain, source
Christian views on magic: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
Segnature: SeAnstapa, CC0, source
Ndau witchcraft and sorcery: Mycelium101, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Bobohizan: Ricardo Unto, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tietäjä: Robert Wilhelm Ekman, Public domain, source
Superstitions in Muslim societies: Unknown author, CC0, source