Curanderismo

Curanderismo is a syncretic form of both faith and herbal medicine practiced by some Latinos, especially Mexican Americans, particularly in treating such medical syndromes as mal de ojo (evil eye), susto (spirit loss), mal puesto (hex), caída de la mollera (fallen fontanel), and chílpil (sibling rivalry). It blends Indigenous healing traditions, Spanish folk medicine, and elements of Catholicism. Folk healers, herbalists, spiritualists, midwives, and medical practitioners are men (curanderos) and women (curanderas) who are invariably shamans, people who possess sometimes specific religious powers for curing various types of maladies, even those caused by a sorcerer (brujo or bruja).

Curanderismo can integrate the rural or urban community, mainly through group ritual, which invariably emphasizes and fulfills the patient's spiritual needs in sometimes dramatic rituals that are essentially psychodramas. Curanderismo provides traditional social and behavioral mechanisms for releasing unbearable pressures as perceived by the individual or group. This system of medicine also provides practical explanations for personal failure, and on occasion, it may reinforce an established moral order. Although many maladies are believed to result from an individual’s moral transgressions, illness may be manipulated to gain social control or even attention, which benefits the patient.

In the twenty-first century, curanderismo remained a vital facet of many Latino communities regarding health and wellness, especially in areas that lacked access to modern healthcare and infrastructure. Curanderismo also reflected the importance of maintaining cultural traditions. In many places, efforts have been made to use curanderismo as an adjuvant health and wellness therapy, combining traditional healing traditions with modern healthcare practices to form a holistic and comprehensive approach to medical treatments. Curanderismo is practiced throughout Mexico, in areas of the United States (US) with large Latino communities, such as California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, in large US cities, and throughout Latin America.

Bibliography

Boye, Kristen. "A Guide to Traditional Mexican Medicine (Curanderismo) & Herbalism." Gaia Herbs, 20 May 2024, www.gaiaherbs.com/blogs/seeds-of-knowledge/curanderismo-traditional-mexican-medicine-herbs. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.

Hendrickson, Brett. Border Medicine: A Transcultural History of Mexican American Curanderismo. New York UP, 2014.

Maduro, Renaldo. "Curanderismo and Latino Views of Disease and Curing." Western Journal of Medicine, vol. 139, no. 6, 1983, pp. 868-74, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1011018. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.

Middleton, Natalie. “Curanderismo and Healing the Fractured Soul.” Orion Magazine, 11 Apr. 2024, orionmagazine.org/article/curanderismo-traditional-healing-practice/. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.

Peat, Savannah. "The Tradition of Traditional Medicine Returns to UNM." UNM Newsroom, 21 Mar. 2023, news.unm.edu/news/the-tradition-of-traditional-medicine-returns-to-unm. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.

Salazar, Cindy Lynn, and Jeff Levin. "Religious Features of Curanderismo Training and Practice." Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, vol. 9, no. 3, 2013, pp. 150–8.

Trotter, Robert T., II, and Juan Antonio Chavira. Curanderismo: Mexican American Folk Healing. 2nd ed., U of Georgia P, 1999.