Important Plants in Peruvian Culture
For centuries, plants have played an important role in the lives of Peruvians. While most people in developed countries have abandoned home remedies for everyday illnesses, many Peruvians continue to use methods passed down through the generations.
The Moche civilization, which occupied northern Peru from 100 to 800 AD, used plants to prepare for sacrifices. The Inca Empire, which ruled Peru during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, used plants to make medicines and in religious rituals.
After the Spanish conquered Peru, the Roman Catholic Church attempted to end the use of plants such as coca and ayahuasca, but to no avail. Today, governments in North America and Europe press Peru to curtail or end the cultivations of coca, due to escalating drug addiction rates in their countries. At the same time, medical researchers are discovering healing qualities in plants used by Peruvians centuries.
While the majority of Peruvians practice the Catholic faith, some people also follow shamanistic practices. Peruvians refer to certain plants as “plant masters”, including brugmansia, San Pedro cactus, coca, ayahuasca and tobacco.
Peruvians often use plant masters in their everyday lives, to relieve hunger pains, cure headaches or relieve symptoms of altitude sickness. However, plant masters are also used in ritualistic cleansings and to explore the unconscious mind.
The use of certain plant masters can be very dangerous if not administered correctly. Peruvians often seek the help of a shaman or town elder who is well acquainted with how to prepare and use the most potent concoctions.
Brugmansia
Brugmansia, also known as toe, is native to South America and has been used by indigenous societies for centuries in spiritual rituals and medicines. The plant is commonly used as a topical treatment for aliments such as arthritis, muscle aches, dermatitis, infections and headaches. It is also taken internally to relieve indigestion or as a decongestant. Today, pharmaceutical manufacturers extract alkaloids from brugmansia to make certain narcotics.
Brugmansia also has hallucinogenic qualities. Natives sometimes use the plant in rituals, divination ceremonies or seances. Depending on the dosage taken, users might feel dizzy or fall into a deep sleep. They often have visions and feel as if they have left their bodies and traveled to another dimension.
However, Peruvians consider brugmansia the plant of last resort, because it can produce very unpredictable behavior in some people, including violence. Users almost never remember their visions, rendering the experience ineffective in understanding their life issues.
Natives most commonly use hallucinogenic concoctions derived from brugmansia to prepare a person for death. The dying person is administered the drug to relieve their pain and help them relax into the death process.
San Pedro Cactus
San Pedro cactus, often referred to as simply “San Pedro”, is a native plant that grows in Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. The cactus produces mescaline, a psychedelic alkaloid, which pharmaceutical companies used in human and veterinary medicines.
San Pedro grows to heights of up to 12 feet and features small spines and seasonal white flowers. Indigenous societies in the Andes Mountains use it for home remedies and in religious divination ceremonies. Archeologists have uncovered evidence showing that the Moche society used the cactus medicinally more than 2,000 years ago.
The Spanish named the cactus after Saint Peter, believing that it enabled users to experience heaven while still mortal. Ironically, Spanish Christians later tried to suppress the use of San Pedro, but failed.
Indigenous cultures use the cactus to help them gain more awareness of their lives. Typically, Peruvians only use San Pedro during ceremonies and under the care of a shaman. Shamans administer the drug in drink form, produced by boiling the cactus until it reduces to a green gel.
Typically, shamans require users to make lifestyle adjustments in the days leading up to a San Pedro ceremony. For about two days prior to the ceremony, users must abstain from sexual activity and avoid consuming meat, alcohol and peppers. Participants must often continue these practices for one week after the ceremony.
Unlike brugmansia, San Pedro does not cause hallucinations, but rather gives the user extreme clarity to see the scope and complexity of their lives. Users typically remember their experiences after the drug loses its effect and many claim a newfound understanding of their lives.
Coca
Andean societies in Peru and Bolivia have used coca for more than 3,000 years. While people in the developed world typically associate coca only with its use in the illegal drug industry, the plant actually has countless uses.
Coca plants grow to heights up to 10 feet and resemble blackthorn bushes. They produce long straight branches, with oval-shaped leaves that are harvested for use in foods, drinks, medicines and religious ceremonies.
Poor Andeans often chew coca to extract and ingest its natural alkaloids, which work as a stimulant to reduce or eliminate hunger pains and thirst. Fortunetellers also chew the leaves, claiming that the affects of the natural drug help them see more clearly into spiritual realms.
Peruvians in most regions use coca to relieve pain from headaches and wounds. Coca tea is used to reduce symptoms of altitude sickness, such as nausea, dizziness and lack of energy. People with brittle or broken bones often ingest coca because of its high calcium level.
Coca also has a long history of social and religious significance. Peruvians who practice native religions often chew coca during rituals, or bury or burn the leaves as an offering to the gods. Men who live on the Lake Titicaca island of Taquile carry small pouches of coca leaves on their belts. As they pass friends or neighbors, they exchange the leaves as a greeting.
Ayahuasca
The word “ayahuasca” comes from the Quechua language and translates to “vine of the souls”. The vine grows in the jungle regions of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia.
Ayahuasca contains a hallucinogenic alkaloid that users extract and drink during religious ceremonies. Its effects vary from person to person. Most users experience visions, while others recall forgotten memories. While many users feel confused or frightened at the beginning of an ayahuasca experience, this initial reaction is typically followed a feeling of inner peace and mental clarity.
Preparation for an ayahuasca ceremony varies, depending on local beliefs. Natives living in the Peruvian rainforest abstain from sex, spicy foods, salt and caffeine in the days before and after ingesting the drug.
Using ayahuasca is a guided experience, typically undertaken with the help of a shaman, and small groups usually participate in ceremonies. Most participants vomit shortly after taking the drug and the hallucinogenic effects can last for several hours.
Users often report a feeling of wellbeing in the days following an ayahuasca ceremony. Many have a much clearer understanding of issues in their lives or feel a sense of personal control never before experienced.
Tobacco
Tobacco is used in jungle, mountain and coastal regions of Peru. While tobacco has a negative reputation around the world, indigenous cultures in South America consider it sacred because of its healing qualities.
Natives living in the jungles of the Cusco and Madre de Dios regions use all plant masters to make medicines, but consider tobacco the most advantageous and powerful. Users often combine tobacco with other plants. For instance, to purge toxins from the body, tobacco is mixed with San Pedro and administered in a drink form.
Peruvians use different varieties of tobacco for different purposes and ingest the plant in different ways. Some types of tobacco are smoked to eliminate cold or hunger, or as a cure for skin disorders. To treat other types of illnesses, tobacco is prepared in a liquid form.
People who practice Shamanism often use tobacco as a treatment for psycho-spiritual disorders, such as trauma or anxiety. In religious rituals, participants typically smoke tobacco in pipes or cigars.
