OLD WIVES TALES & HOME REMEDIES

Images, A4 sized paper, scissors, gluestick, pens, colour pencils or colour markers (whatever is preferable) 

There are two texts for these exercises. One is a short story and the other is a poem.

• The short story “Remedies” by Kali Fajardo Anstine.
• The poem, “Old Wives Tale On Which I Was Fed”, by Jenny Xie. 

1) Large Group Activity: Read “Old Wives Tale On Which I Was Fed” by Jenny Xie. This poem is essentially a list of old-fashioned “wisdom” or superstitious beliefs that may have been passed down. If printed, the group can number each one of these stanzas and beside it, write the theme of that particular “wisdom” or “old wives tale.” Maybe it is about beauty, or health, or long life, or knowledge etc. Discuss as a group and come up with themes. Did any of these superstitions resonate with you? Or have you heard of similar “wisdoms” within your families?  (15 minutes) 

2) Solo Activity: What kinds of superstitions do you know of or practice in your own lives and families? Make a list of 3 different “old wives tales” that you have been fed on. For each of them, write down the theme that you think they cover.  (10 minutes) 

3) Large Group Activity: Preferable if everyone is seated in a circle or circular manner. Each person gets one A4 sized paper and they write down one old wives tale from their list. They pass it to their left. They see what their classmate has written, they respond to that in their own way. Then they fold down the lines their peer has written and pass the paper to their left. The next person will then write down another old wives tale from their own list as a response to what their friend has written. In this way, they continue responding and adding to the list, and folding the line above theirs until everyone has written down a superstition from their list. (15 minutes) 

4) Small Group Activity: Each person now has an A4 paper in their hands with haphazard lines and wisdoms shared from their group. Make small groups of 3-4 people. They recite out loud this hodge-podge “exquisite corpse poem” in their small groups. (5 minutes) 

Questions to consider for small group discussions after sharing: 
- Are there any overlaps that you notice? If so, what are they? 
- What are some superstitious beliefs that you had never heard of before and that you find amusing, interesting, or you have a strong reaction to? 
- Do you find a few of these “wisdoms” that are similar to the ones that you have heard of but with different details? (5 minutes) 

5) Large Group Activity: Activity wrap-up discussion. Gather again in the large group and discuss what transpired in these small groups. What did people notice? What did people feel or think? What was the most memorable “wisdom”? (10 minutes) 
 

1) Optional: Assign reading of the story, “Remedies” by Kali Fajardo Anstine beforehand. 

2) Solo Activity: In the story “Remedies” by Kali Fajardo Anstine, the grandmother character has potions and remedies for things like getting rid of lice and how to make hair grow long and beautiful. What are some home remedies that you and your family practice? Do you have remedies for sadness? Or heartbreak? What are some things that are passed down and/or adapted? What is one remedy or recipe that you practice even if you may or may not believe in it? You can come up with more than one. But try to move beyond simple things like honey and lemon for the common cold. Try for “stranger” remedies that perhaps are unique to your family and community. It could also be that your remedies are derived from or related to the “old wives tale” wisdom that you wrote about in the first activity. (10 minutes) 

(Note: If you can’t think of something, you must speak with someone in your family and come up with something. If your family is not around, maybe a neighbour, an old aunt or uncle.)

3) In a clean sheet or in your notebook, describe the remedy you have chosen to write about. Write down a list of instances when this remedy is administered. What are the circumstances? What ailments does it cure?  What are the materials or ingredients one needs for this remedy?  Make a list and write down step-by-step how it is made and how it is used. (15 minutes) 

Examples

• The Quarkwickel (quark compress) is a classic. Chilled, unflavored quark (a soft cheese) is spread on a cloth and wrapped around the calves or chest to reduce body temperature.
•  The traditional remedy is the "Zwiebelsäckchen." Chopped onions are placed in a cotton cloth or sock, warmed, and held against the sore ear to draw out inflammation.
• Within certain communities in Nepal, they believe that broken bones can be put together faster if the person eats slippery slimy and gooey things like slugs, frogs, sticky rice. 

4) Small Group Activity: In groups of 3-4, share the home remedy that you have prepared. Are there any overlaps between what you have and what your peers have? Are there similar home remedies with different tweaks or ingredients and ways of doing it? Which remedy is memorable for you? Spend some time sharing and discussing. (15 minutes) 


5) Solo Activity: Pick one home remedy that you want to make a zine out of. The zine can be a story or simply a recipe. It can also be a song! Make a list of 5-7 different visual elements. For instance, if the home remedy calls for ingredients such as mugwort, then maybe an image of mugwort is something you might want to use. Search online for images or illustrations but ensure that they are under “creative commons.” (For those who are more artistically inclined, you are welcome to create your own images/illustrations. Once you have  5-7 different visual elements that you think connect to your particular home remedy, you can print them out and cut them to your liking and size. (20 minutes) 
 

6) Solo Activity: You can either come up with a story or a recipe for the home remedy. 

A) Story: Come up with a story where this particular remedy needs to be used. Who is in the story? What happens to them? And how is this remedy prepared and administered? And what happens afterwards? Make sure to have a beginning, middle and an end to the story. 

See a sample zine: 

Write the story out or make a rough storyboard to see. See how many pages you need. Depending on that, fold and cut an A4 sized paper  as you need it. Or tell yourself that you will work within 8 pages, or 6 pages, or 16 pages. The more pages you need/use, the smaller the zine will be (Please refer to video of different sizes and lengths of zines, or be creative and make your own but within the limit of a single A4 sized sheet of paper. You will find videos of different folding techniques at the end of this page.) . (20-25 minutes) 
 

B) Recipe: What are the things needed for this home remedy? How many pages do you need to list the ingredients and then how many more do you need to write out the steps to preparing and administering this home remedy? Plan out your zine pages for the recipe. 

7) Solo Activity: Now that you have a story or a recipe, images/illustrations, and you know the number of pages you need, it is time to put the zine together!  

You can use colour pencils, markers, make a collage etc. to present your story or recipe in zine-form. Make sure to give the zine a title.  (30 minutes) 
 

8) Large Group Activity: Once everyone has made a zine, display them on a table or on the floor. The whole group will then walk around to look and read different zines the group has prepared. Each person can be given some sticky notes to write comments or expressions for the zines they liked. (30 minutes)  


9) Large Group Activity: An activity wrap-up discussion. Some questions to consider: 

- What does this reveal about you and your family or community? 
- Are there any overlaps in the remedies, if so, what do these overlaps show? 
- What is the logic behind these home remedies that you share that you can see makes sense today? 
- What does this particular home remedy say about your family, or this knowledge that has remained in your family till this day? 
- Would you call this “wisdom” or “knowledge,” why or why not? 

(20 minutes)