Sunday, February 7, 2021

Margaret and Stephen Bunson on Priests and their Diagnosing/Curing Illnesses in Ancient Mesoamerica

  

And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land-- but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate. (Alma 46:40)

 

The following from Margaret and Stephen Bunson's Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesoamerica (1996; s.v. "Maya Priests") might have some interesting ramifications for Alma 46:40 (esp. as Alma served as the high priest):

 

The Maya priests also practiced medicine throughout the region. Some illnesses were thought to be the work of evil spirits or the disfavor of the various deities. In some regions the people left food out in the open to placate the dwarf demons who were thought to lurk nearby in order to inflict illness upon the unsuspecting. The custom of leaving food offerings is still practiced in modern Yucatan regions.

 

The priests were skilled at recognizing certain symptoms and signs of illnesses, despite the superstitious or magical connotations associated with the practice of medicine by the common people. Treatments included dosing with medicinal herbs, mineral spirits and potions that might contain worms, animal excrement, urine blood, crocodile testicles, bird fat and other offal. The priests diagnosed the physical condition and then conducted elaborate ceremonies employing fetishes, divination and other magical incantations, probably because the people demanded a visible display of power and concern. The priest-physicians were highly skilled in their art, reported to having remedies for ailments ranging from toothache to insanity. As the various codices, historical documents and inscriptions attest, the Maya priests were not superstitious vagrants but an educated class of people with skills and resources derived from centuries of practice. They were of the aristocratic castes and thus shared in the educational requirement of that class. As a result, the priests had a wide and far-reaching knowledge of the human condition as well as the more specialized aspects of temple ritual for their role in day-to-day ceremonies and observances. (Margaret R. Bunson and Stephen M. Bunson, Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesoamerica [New York: Facts on Files, Inc., 1996], 139)