During the cold and flu season, you begin to see those wonderful ads for Tylenol Cold & Flu, Mucinex, Robitussin and the like. As a Latina, I grew up on Vick's Vaporub, Arnica, and teas of different kinds. My Mom always recommended tea for any physical ailment I had.
If I had a headache, she'd say, "Tomate un te. Un te de manzanilla te va a relajar." Chamolile tea will relax you. If I had digestive issues, she'd say, "Tomate un te de menta." Drink peppermint tea. Soon, I had a collection of teas for everything. I remember around the time I was 15, she'd sent me out to the front yard to bring in yerbabuena, which is spearmint. This herb is known to be much milder than peppermint, also to help with stomach issues. I always found it interesting that my Mom made it a point to plant it in her garden. She also grew chiles and cilantro. Why did she do this? It goes back to bringing a piece of home to this foreign new home that she had. She'd say, "Mija, go outside and bring me some yerbabuena." I'd run out, yank it out of the ground, and bring it back. I always stuck around to see what she was going to do with it. Sometimes, she'd put it in a caldo (stew), or in a tortilla stir-fry that she calls "sopa de tortilla" but mostly, she'd make tea.
These days when I call her and happen to mention that my head hurts or my stomach is feeling ill, she immediately says, "Did you drink your tea?" I already know she's going to ask and usually, by then, I am already warming up a pot of hot water. She's been right every time and I've never doubted her home remedies. What I find even funnier than drinking tea for headaches and such, is that I now keep these teas around all the time. I make it a point to replace them when I am out and I don't look to the pharmacy to help me with pain if I can help it with some home remedy my Mom knows. She is our nurse, our doctor. We trust everything she instructs without a doubt. However, we go to the Doctor's office with skepticism and fear. If only he'd say,"Drink some tea. Your diabetes will go away" or "Some hot tea will quickly ease your arthritis." This is not the case. However, if your Mom said it, you'd believe it. Faith is more about trust than anything else for Latinos and how can you possibly ever doubt your Mama?
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