Folklore Healing: A Case Study of the Herbal and Herpes Folk Medicine Healers in Bang Jak Sub-district of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province
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Abstract
This research article’s objective was to study folklore healing of the herbal and herpes folk medicine
healers in Bang Jak sub-district of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in Thailand. Folklore performance and
folklore functions were employed to describe roles of folklore healing. The findings revealed that the herbal
and herpes folk medicine healers performed spiritual rites which consisted of three phases: the Triple Gem
praying, medicine incantation chanting as well as prohibitions and practices for patients providing.
The incantations and rites that are used and performed as part of healing can, surprisingly, strengthen
the community’s stability. That the community has its own folklore healing methods helps maintain harmony
among community members and encourages them to support each other. Folk medicine healers, therefore,
do not only provide healing methods to a patient, but they also act as the community’s advisors – in other
words, moral supporters. That is, they build the community’s mental stability though behavior components
and meanings of semiology as seen in the rites, which are, purposely, related to Buddhism, the healers’
masters and healing incantations.
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