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ICH DOMAIN (4) KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES CONCERNING NATURE AND THE UNIVERSE

4.1 Practicing Obeah
Thriving
Spiritual rituals originating from the African continent, developed and practiced clandestinely in the Caribbean. People tend to seek obeah spells for love, money, spiritual protection, healing, etc.

4.2 Cooking in the Ground
Declining
A hole is dug in the earth, filled with twigs and coals, lit, and heated. Then meat wrapped in leaves is placed in it and covered up with dirt. Cooking time might be a day.

4.3 Cooking on Coal Pot; Three Stones
Surviving
In a clay or metal coal pot food is slowly cooked, heated by charcoal. Alternately, three large stones are placed on the ground with charcoal in the middle and a pot with the food to be cooked is placed on top.

4.4 Making of the Coal Keel (kiln)
Declining
Collected wood is cut up and placed orderly in a pit, covered with bush, lit, and covered up with dirt. Fire burns inside for a few days until the charcoal is ready.

4.5 Cooking in Stone Ovens
Declining
An outdoor oven was built using bricks and stones. Wood and coal are heated and bread and cakes baked inside.

4.6 Butchering and Hide Tanning of Animals (goat, sheep, rabbit, chicken, hogs, cows)
Surviving
Butchering of the animals is done outside. Meat is distributed, cooked, or salted for later use.

4.7 Use of Plants for Medicinal and Cosmetic purposes (i.e., aloe (vera), bush tea, soursop, lemongrass, wiry wine bush)
Thriving
Bush and plants or shrubs with medical values are gathered and prepared for use in teas, tisanes, ointments, and body wash. Some plants can be placed directly on wounds, hair, and skin.

4.7.1 Making and Using of Aloe (Vera)
Thriving
The gel inside the aloe vera’s succulent leaves is used for treating and enhancing the skin, hair, and immune system

4.7.2 Making and Using of Prickly Pear Juice
Declining
Prickly pear is used for making liquor. It is made from juice of the prickly pear cactus and has medical value as well as a sweet taste.

4.7.3 Making and Using of Sea Moss
Declining
Sea moss is prepared as a health drink and for strengthening male stamina and fertility.

4.7.4 Making of Coconut Oil
Declining
The pulp of the coconut is used in making oil for cooking and skin and hair care.

4.7.5 Bush Tea
Thriving
Different herbs such as lemon grass, mint, basil, and soursop are widely grown in people’s yards and used as medicinal agents to remedy colds, flus, stomachaches, high blood pressure, insomnia, and other ailments.

4.7.6 Arrowroot
Surviving
This is made by harvesting tubers which are washed, bashed into pulp, and dried. Then the starch is used for porridge, cakes, and biscuits.

4.8 Use of Traditional Healing Methods
Surviving
The use of different traditional methods for cleansing and healing purposes.

4.8.1 Alcolado, Maravilla Water, Witch Hazel, camphor, Vicks (mentholated ointment)
Thiving
All products can be bought in the store and used to rub on the skin to provide cooling, relief from fever, and ease of mosquito bites, etc.

4.8.2 Castor oil
Surviving
Castor oil is used as a cleanser of the intestines by drinking a spoon-full at regular times. Also used for hair care.

4.8.4 Bola Mas
Surviving
A black substance that is put in water for drinking. It prevents blood clotting, cleans the blood, and speeds up the healing process.

4.8.5 Soft Candle
Surviving
A soft candle is heated, and the wax is applied to boils on the skin to eliminate pain, draw out pus, reduce the size and get rid of the boil.

4.9 Hurricane Preparedness Using Nature (reading weather)
Declining
People determine when bad weather is coming by monitoring the behavior of animals and watching the seabirds above land, looking at cloud formations, observing the waves or choppiness of the sea, and assessing the intensity of the heat.

4.9.1 Using Nature as a Guide
Declining
Nature is used as a guide to determine the best time for planting, when to go fishing, when to cut hair, etc. Nature is also used for time telling with the changing of the sky’s colors 4 times and using the stars for navigation.

4.10 Superstitions/ Beliefs
Surviving
Superstitions passed on by the elders are an important part of how to live one’s life and to recognize warnings, signs, premonitions, etc.

4.10.1 Wearing Shirt Inside Out
Surviving
This is done to ward off evil spirits.

4.10.2 Entering the House Backwards in Evening
Surviving
This is done to prevent evil spirits from following you into the house to do harm.

4.10.3 Placing Aloes over the Door
Surviving
This is done as protection against evil.

4.10.4 Using the Almanac/ Dream Books
Surviving
The almanac, an annually printed guide, is widely used for its information on agriculture, astrology, and biology and for determining the meaning of dreams and which numbers to play in the lottery.

4.10.5 Biting Finger after Pointing at a Burial Ground/Cemetery
Declining
A belief that pointing a finger at a grave or cemetery would cause the finger to fall off. To prevent this, the person should bite his/her finger.

4.10.6 Meaning of Hand Scratching and Eye Twitching
Surviving
Hand scratching means a good omen that money is coming to someone. Eye twitching implies the person is being gossiped about.

4.10.7 Meaning of a Dog Howling
Surviving
This means that somebody near you will die.

4.10.8 Meaning of Black Moth in the House
Surviving
It is widely believed to be an omen of death.

4.10.9 Meaning of Seeing a Grasshopper
Surviving
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4.10.10 Baby Rituals (use of camphor, salt, blue, bush)
Surviving
This is done to protect the baby’s spiritual and physical wellbeing. An open Bible, open scissors, smelling ointments, and red and blue colors are placed in or near the crib. Salt and bush are good for the skin, and blue is used for protection against the evil eye. The mother shapes baby’s head to give the skull a nice form. (See Domain 3 as a social practice.)

4.10.11 Practice of Planting Crops When There is a Full Moon
Surviving
This is done due to information received from the forefathers and from the almanac.

4.10.12 Practice of Cutting One’s Hair When There is a Full Moon
Surviving
This is done to make the hair healthy and shiny.
