Ritual uses of palms in traditional medicine in sub-Saharan Africa: a review

In Zambia, palm fruits were used in prayers before administrating a drug to ensure the effectiveness of medicine and successful recovery of a patient. The Ba-Ila healer used a rattle made of round palm fruits on a handle during ritual therapies [45]. To the Lunda in Zambia, the red color of the mesocarp oil from Elaeis guineensis symbolized power, but it also was interpreted a sign of murder and witchcraft [9].

On Mfangano Island in Kenya, the Suba and Luo still use the fruits of Cocos nucifera to alleviate skin rash associated with HIV/AIDS. The disease – locally known as ‘chira’, and its etiology is related to the transgression of principles governing sexuality or seniority. These include adultery committed during a wife’s pregnancy, having sexual intercourse during the harvest, or failure to observe the proper separation of sexuality between generations [46].

Disorders of the reproductive system that fail to respond to rational therapy are often explained by witchcraft or broken taboos [7, 47]. In Nigeria, to prevent miscarriage Yoruba people used to roast a tortoise with coconut water and half a bottle of palm oil from Elaeis guineensis, after which the mixture was ground to powder [47]. The powder was consumed in a corn flour pudding, taken every morning and evening during one menstrual period, followed by sexual intercourse five days after finishing menstruating. The Yoruba saw the tortoise as a symbol for a prostitute, which might signify that when a woman suffered miscarriage it could be due to committed adultery or a broken taboo [47]. Sex taboos in particular were often used as an explanation for the occurrence of a disease [45, 48]. For the treatment of malaria, the Yoruba used start the ritual with two rings painted on the neck, one with shea butter (Vitellaria paradoxa), and another with Elaies guineensis oil [47].

In Liberia, the Mano used red palm oil in treatments of mysterious diseases. To awake a patient in coma, red palm oil was mixed with a burned knot of the parasite Loranthus micranthus and rubbed on the patient’s cheeks toward the mouth in order to make him talk (all information in this paragraph derived from [48]). Another magical medicine was prepared from any branch broken off by wind but lodged before it reached the ground, mixed with some burned plants and Elaeis guineensis oil. The paste was put into a little horn tied to a cut off cow’s tail. The traditional healer asked the sick man a question while brushing his face with the tail. If there was no answer, it meant that the patient would die. If he answered, the healer took some medicine with his left third finger, and rubbed it over the patient’s heart while saying specific prayers. The broken but not fallen branch perhaps symbolized hope for the patient to wake up. The palm oil was used to blend the various added ingredients. Similar symbols appeared when healing fractures in Liberia. A few branches from various shrubs and trees were gathered, together with any broken twig which was healed but growing in a twisted position. The charred wood was mixed with red palm oil, and the ointment was then applied to the fracture. The twisted branch probably symbolized the twisted limb. Another example of sympathetic magic among the Mano was a cure for acute hepatitis, in which shelf fungi shaped like a liver were mixed with Elaeis guineensis oil and rubbed over the liver. In a cure for palpitation, the Mano mixed red palm oil with an inflorescence of Costus sp. and a handful of buds from Harungana madagascariensis. Part of the mixture was put in an iron spoon with four pebbles that had been heated in the fire. There would be three pebbles used if the patient was a female. Notably, the stone represented longevity and strength, and the red color of palm oil as well as the red sap from H. madagascariensis probably symbolized the color of the treated heart. Gender specific symbolic medicines were also used in Liberia for rheumatism due to yaws. Enchanted elements were the leaves and bark of living plants and red palm oil, which represented the active male elements. The charred plants and “burned” oil represented the soothed, magical, more preventive female elements. Male and female medicines were mixed in order to form even more powerful Mano medicine, and possibly to achieve an ideal balance between active and controlled features of persons and situations. Women in Liberia used to protect themselves from getting sick during the meetings of the Ba Kona snake society using a medicine horn made of charred twig of Protomegabaria stapfiana and red palm oil. The medicine was tied to the woman’s waist and licked from the finger whenever she felt dizzy or afraid. Although in many ritual medicines palm oils served merely as a rubbing agent, the use of the oil could also be a taboo. In Liberian Sukba Society it was forbidden to put red E. guineensis oil into a horn of medicine, which was a fetish prepared to protect from witchcraft. If the taboo was broken, the fetish could turn against its owner; catch him and kill him instead of the witch [48].

In Gabon, the Masango used the leaves of Hyptis lanceolata mixed with palm oil to apply on the body as medico-magic [49]. Palm oil is still offered to a variety of vodun spirits in Benin [37]. For the annual yam celebration, the guardian spirit Legba receives yams, palm oil, chicken blood, and other offerings. Throughout coastal Benin, palm oil is also used in vo, which are sacrifices or offerings used in daily problem solving. An example of vo is a calabash containing kola nuts, palm oil, and other items indicated by the diviner. It is placed in the center of a paved road, and by end of the day it is run over by cars, so the problems are destroyed [37]. In Benin near almost every door there used to stand the Legba-pot, filled every morning and evening with cooked maize and palm oil [50]. For another vodun called the “Vulture’s Dish”, passers-by used to deposit a little food or palm oil, to bring luck or ward off danger [50].

In Liberia, palm kernel oil was applied with owl’s feathers on wounds resulting from scarification performed during the Poro initiation rites [48]. In Cameroon, fresh seeds of Elaeis guineensis were mashed and mixed with other plants to treat mental fatigue. The residues of medicine were put under the pillow, and only if the patient dreamed of a young girl with erected breasts, there was hope for cure [51]. Elaeis guineensis seeds were also used as sacred objects in rituals involved in oracles, which helped to discover the cause of disease or other calamities for example the Afan oracle of the Ewe in Togo, or the Ifa oracle of the Yorubas and Fa oracle of the Fon in Benin [51]. In the Afa divination in Benin, 16 palm nuts were cleared, marked with certain Afa motif, and thrown from right hand to the left to reveal the destined combination [50]. In 1990s palm nuts were still used in Benin in secret Fa divination in order to decrypt and read the signature of Fa – a god of oracles [38].

Craw-craw, is the local term for onchocerciasis or river blindness, which causes itchy rashes and nodular swellings on the skin. In Liberia crawcraw was threated with mashed leaves of the brimstone tree Morinda lucida made into a leaf packet with two palm seeds. The packet was roasted in the fire and the pulp rubbed on the skin. According to Harley [48], p. 92 “The nuts obviously are magical”. Among the Mano in Liberia, impotence, which was widely believed to be caused by witchcraft, used to be treated with palm seeds chewed with young leaves of Microdesmis puberula, and the mass was then rubbed on the genitals [48]. The presence of M. puberula in the treatment for impotence might be linked to its wood which is very hard [52].

In Ghana, hollowed out Borassus aethiopum seeds are still used by Haussa’s as containers for a charred medicinal mixture called ‘katala’ in Haussa. This mixture is rubbed into skin incisions during scarification practices [11].

The seeds of Raphia hookeri were sold in 2010 and 2011 on markets in Ghana and Benin to treat a baby’s fontanel when it “beats”, which is seen as an unhealthy symptom [11, 53]. The seeds are roasted over the fire until they are black as coal, ground to powder, mixed with oil and the mixture is smeared on the fontanel. The seeds are also boiled as tea or added to herbal baths to treat babies with beating fontanels [54].

In Ghana, empty infructescences of Elaeis guineensis alone or mixed with ginger (Zingiber officinale) are burned and applied as magical medicine in the form of an enema to small children to encourage them to walk at an early age [van Andel, unpublished]. Also in Ghana, the Akan burn inflorescences from Elaeis guineensis so the smoke drives away bad spirits [7, 11].

In Zambia splints made of palm mats used to be tied around broken limbs with bark strips, and medicine was applied on the skin under the mats [9]. Simultaneously, the legs of a chicken were broken and treated with the same medication. The Lundas believed that when the chicken starts to walk again, so will the patient. Palm leaves were used as protective barriers by the Ba-Ila. A string made of fibers extracted from the palm leaf was suspended on poles in front of the hut to warn pregnant women. If a pregnant woman entered a hut where there was a baby, its skull would part into pieces [45, 55].

During secret meetings of the Mano in Liberia, a curtain of young Raphia vinifera leaves protected from any outsider who could perform witchcraft, bring poison, or any person who recently had sexual intercourse [48].

In Benin a vodun Vo-sisa used to be placed opposite to the house gates to defend the inhabitants from harm. It usually consisted of a pole, with an empty old calabash for a head, and a body composed of grass thatch, palm leaves, fowl’s feathers, and snails’ shells [50].

Palms were also used as protective amulets. In Benin and Togo, ill people carried twigs of Elaeis guineensis around the neck or arm to achieve invulnerability [51].

In South Africa, during the hondlola purification ceremony, performed after a cure was accomplished, the Thonga protected themselves from perspiration of those who had sexual relations. A convalescent was provided with fowa, which was a kind of round rattle made of palm leaf tied around the ankle. Madness, which the Thonga associated with spirit possession, was treated by waving a large palm leaf from the milala palm (most probably Hyphaene coriacea) in front of the patient, which would “scatter the spirits”. Also “when it bites inside” a medicine was prepared from various equally cut roots that were tied together with a band of palm leaf, and boiled to bring out the active principles of the drug [10].

Palm fronds are still used in Benin in kudio, which are sacrifices used to heal a dying person by exchanging the life of an animal for that of the person [37]. Also, offerings are made to various vodun spirits over a fresh bed of azan - ritual palm fronds which mark the sacred spot [37]. The azan was also worn around the throat, to protect from witchcraft or from being killed during war [50]. In Benin, palm fronds are also carried by people involved in punishing social deviants, and those suspected of witchcraft [38]. During the recent ‘witch parades’ organized to punish and march the accused Beninese women to prison, the witches were bedecked in wreaths of palm fronds [39]. Perhaps palms bring justice because they are associated with understanding, peace, and harmony, or with indwelling tree spirits themselves [56]. In South Africa a thief was punished by confrontation with palm leaves, which, by a kind of supernatural judgment, turned into snakes [10].

Palm leaves also served in various ceremonies, rituals and religious festivities. In Kenya, the Camus tied the leaves of Hyphaene coriacea to boys’ legs and heads of women during the circumcision ceremony [57]. Skirts made from palm leaves were used by the masked Poro dancers, and by the Mwila women on festive occasions [45, 48]. Leaves of Hyphaene petersiana were used in Namibia to prepare bridal hats among the Ovambo [58]. Nowadays, in Uganda, leaves of Phoenix reclinata are used for ceremonial and religious purposes [59]. Betsimisaraka people of Madagascar use leaves of Dypsis pinnatifrons in decoration of churches. Leaves of Raphia farinifera are used for making crosses, and they are burned as incense at the church [12]. Entire leaves of Dypsis fibrosa are used by the Betsimisaraka to decorate houses at clerical festivities [14]. Carrying the palm fronds on Palm Sunday is an important Christian tradition practiced now in many parts of Africa [60, 61].

In Nigeria, to recover from smallpox, palm wine was drunk and rubbed on the body of the patient. Relatives were advised not to sleep near an infected person, nor visit anyone outside. Roasted groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea) were not to be eaten during an epidemic, and no drumming could be performed. These activities would offend the Shopanna god who, according to Yoruba beliefs, was responsible for bringing smallpox epidemics upon mankind. For successful recovery it was also necessary to make an offering to the Shopanna god by sprinkling palm wine all over the house to appease the god [47]. Ancestor spirits appreciate drinks, and palm wine was often used in offerings and fetishes to obtain their favor and help or to reduce their anger and, therefore, the risk of disease or other calamity [10, 48]. To engage a powerful being in a relationship of beneficial exchange and prosperity, palm wine was a valued consumable and lubricant of good relations and hospitality. In Kenya, Mijikenda people used to place the coconut shells filled with palm wine on ancestors’ graves as an offering [62]. In Benin, sodabi which is a locally distilled palm wine is still used in offerings made to vodun spirit called Tchamba – an old spirit based on domestic African enslavement [63].

The Mano of Liberia carried amulets for protection against witchcraft, made from small horns with enclosed palm wine and charred and powdered twig of Ixora sp. and Vernonia conferta. By licking the medicine from the finger, a person was ensured that if anyone wanted to bewitch him, he would foolishly turn himself out, and would subsequently be called to account [48]. Although most medicines were directed toward the cure and prevention of disease, some could also embrace poisons [5, 9, 10, 64]. In Liberia, a poisonous mixture was prepared while calling the name of the victim, put under the thumbnail and then placed in a gourd of palm wine. The victim was offered the lethal drink, always using the left hand [48].

Ritual uses of roots are few. Roots of Elaeis guineensis in mixture with the resin from Daniellia oliveri and Commiphora africana were reported to keep away bad spirits in West Africa [51].

In Ghana, a decoction from Borassus aethiopum roots is still used by Kokomba traditional healers in the treatment of any disease caused by a curse [Gruca, unpublished]. In Togo, macerated roots from B. aethiopium are used in herbal baths, and powdered or decocted roots from E. guineensis are used orally to treat epilepsy [65]. It is believed that epilepsy occurs mostly during the full moon. Mysterious and spontaneous diseases such as epileptic seizures are often associated with supernatural forces [66].

Palm trees played a protective role in Zambia. According to Ba-Ila beliefs, a person could be guarded from harm during the entire life by hiding one’s life in a palm tree. This protective ritual ensured that only if the palm tree would fall the person would die, and since this event was considered unlikely, a palm tree was a safe place to hide one’s life [45]. That might be because the palm tree, due to its unchanging beauty of the evergreen foliage, is considered a symbol of everlasting life, permanence and strength [67]. In Zambia, solitary growing palm trees also provided sacred places where rites and customs traditionally associated with half-gods were performed [55].

The French botanist Chevalier [68] published a varietal name of the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis var. idolatrica) referring to its divine characters. Current taxonomy treats this name as a synonym of E. guineensis[42] but it is still mentioned as the “idolatrica” palm in some literature even if it cannot be recognized taxonomically. In Benin, the “idolatrica” palm has been recently reported as sacred and protected where ever it grows because it is seen as the realization on earth of the god Fa. Nobody is allowed to cut it down or to use its fruits for making oil. The ritual use of these palms is reserved for soothsayers called bokonon[69].

In Madagascar Cocos nucifera and Dypsis canaliculata are still planted at sacred places by the Betsimisaraka people [13]. The Wanaka of East Africa believed that the coconut palm has a spirit, and destruction of this tree is equivalent to matricide because the coconut tree gives people nourishment, as a mother nourishes her child [56].