Beaver Oil and Mole Fat - The Wise Ones' Advice on Using Animals and Humans in Folk Medicine

Beaver Oil and Mole Fat - Folk Medicine Lecture: Wednesday 24 February 2027, 19:00–21:00, Hovedbiblioteket, Skive. Tickets cost 85 kr.

Before doctors took over in the late 1800s, it was the housewife and the wise men and women who treated illness - with knowledge passed down from generation to generation. This event focuses on the Skive region and tells of the folk medicine that was then the everyday answer to everything from warts to cough: treatments with animals and plants, supplemented by prayers, incantations and magical verses.

A central source is the so-called Cyprianus books - secret recipe books reserved for the wise. Both the "Estvad-Cyprianus", which today is held in the Danish Folklore Collection, and a newly discovered "Skive-Cyprianus" are presented during the evening.

Among the specific remedies highlighted are:
• treating warts and boils with a handful of earthworms
• a live mouse in a pancake against bedwetting
• nettle seeds in beer against "old cough"
• plantain water to wash the face against infection
• mustard seeds scattered around the house to keep evil out

The evening concludes with a look at what resembles - and what differs from - our own time. Price: 85 kr. including coffee and cake.