Religion and Healing – About medical practices and religious healing rituals

Thematic field of the exhibition "Body. Cult. Religion."

Diseases are considered part of the body’s transience. However, they are sometimes attributed to supernatural causes, negative energies, disharmonies, bad karma and the like. Religious practices such as prayers, confessions of sins, sacrifices, incantations or other ritual acts are intended to counteract this, serve healing or help the sick person to bear his fate more easily.

In ancient Egypt, for example, people turned to the gods Isis and Horus, while in Greece it was mainly the god of healing Asclepius and his daughter Hygieia who were addressed.

Christian nursing was based on the idea that mercy should motivate people, i.e. service to the sick person should be equated with service to God. In ancient Jewish societies there were popular, magical Healing practices that were mostly rejected by rabbinic authorities and associated with idolatry. In the countries shaped by the Islamic Arab culture, different healing practices are offered. These include, for example, astrological, esoteric and other practices that can be categorised as tradition. In the ancient Indo-Brahmanic sacred texts (Vedas) illness and well-being are often causally linked, with the action of the gods. Later, also a sophisticated medicine (Ayurveda), which is still practiced today, with their own explanatory approaches to health and illness.

In China, diseases were partly attributed to a disharmony of the two different primordial potencies of Yin and Yang, against which diets, medicines and various physical exercises were supposed to help.

Selected exhibits

The following texts are based on the exhibition catalogue:

Erhardt, S.; Graefe, J.; Lichtenberger, A.; Lohwasser, A.; Nieswandt, H.-H.; Strutwolf, H. (eds.): Body. Cult. Religion. Perspectives from Antiquity to the Present. Münster 2024. (only available in german)

• Hand of Fatima (hamsa) (Cat. no. 100)

  

  The hamsa (five), also called the Hand of Fatima, is widespread in various forms in the material culture and art of southwest Asia and North Africa – and not only in Jewish (see Cat. no. 93 – a Jewish amulet hand) and Muslim contexts. The symbol still enjoys great popularity today. The symbol on the outstretched right hand is supposed to protect against the so-called evil eye and thus functions as a talisman. The evil eye, ʿayn or naẓar in Arabic, is not mentioned in the Quran itself, but envy (ḥasad in Arabic), which later commentators associated with the evil eye, is mentioned in several suras. (exc/tst)

• Part of a tattoo instrument (Cat. no. 102)

  

  Long-handled tattoo instruments with straight shafts, like this one from Burma (now Myanmar), are associated with various ethnic groups in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and parts of southwestern China. The piece shown here is the upper element of a three-part instrument made of brass. The upper end is decorated with a figure representing a spirit being or sacred animal. This was inserted into a thin, tubular shaft; the replaceable tattoo needles were then inserted into the lower end of this shaft. The figure weighs down the tattoo instrument and helps give it stability and momentum during the tattooing process. Used until the 20th century for Yantra tattooing, these instruments were thought to give the tattooed person magical protection, mystical powers or luck. Such traditional tattooing methods are seeing a revival today. (exc/pie)

• Cuneiform writing tablet with notation for exorcising spirits (Cat. no. 80)

  

  This Assyrian cuneiform tablet contains instructions on how to cure a person beset by malicious spirits. For the people of ancient Mesopotamia, spirits were real phenomena that could harm their mental and physical well-being. They were believed to be the souls of deceased people who afflicted the living because they had not been given the proper funeral rites. Such an ‘attack’ could cause many medical problems, such as paralysis, headaches, vomiting and even depression. A person could be treated by a medical professional, the exorcist (āšipu), who used his extensive knowledge of medicine and rituals to expel the ghost from the victim’s body. (exc/tst)

• Nkisi Nkondi, a so-called nail fetish, from the Congo from the 19th/20th century (Cat. no. 101)

  This figure is a so-called power figure used by ritual specialists to activate supernatural powers and invoke their effects in the physical world. The figures can be used for both benevolent and malevolent purposes - the Minkisi Nkondi, to which this figure also belongs, were used to hunt evildoers or witches, for example. The figure has the typical minkisi addition of a mirrored container in the center of the belly, which is considered the preferred location and source of magical power. Also typical is the fixed gaze, which is often achieved by attaching additional material to the eyes. (exc/fbu)

• Ancient Egyptian female figure with tattoos (Cat. no. 84)

  

  This small figure made of blue faience and dating from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom shows a naked woman adorned with tattoos, necklaces and bracelets. Her thighs are painted with diamond-shaped patterns made up of dots, presumably intended to represent tattoos of the kind that have also been found on mummified, mostly female, bodies. The shapes could symbolize cowries, which resemble the female vulva and were therefore seen as a sign of fertility. The triangles, on the other hand, had a protective function, warding off demons that could enter through bodily orifices and cause illnesses and even miscarriages. Since the figures have mostly been found in graves, they were probably offered as a sacrifice to deceased relatives, in the hope that these relatives would be able to influence this world in their afterlife form, especially in fulfilling the desire for children. (exc/pie)

To the next thematic field: "After Death..."