I'm wondering about the history of using stone talismans against plague, and whether they are considered relevant for bird flu.
There is a tradition of using stones reputed to have magic powers against cattle diseases and human plague.
I've read about it in Scotland in the past:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_057/57_112_119.pdf
and there are many other references that you can find on Google.
Now, what I'm wondering is - will similar ideas come up for bird flu? In the remoter places that bird flu is striking, are there remedies like this? Users generally have to follow a prescribed remedy - e.g. drink water in which the talisman has been dipped twice and then swirled round . The water mustn't touch the ground.
I wonder if similar practices are happening already, and if bird flu continues to spread, will these ideas spread as well ?
I have an interest, because I recently picked up a human-shaped, worked stone on the Ridgeway, the great prehistoric route through England, close by a hill-fort where cattle were kept; and I wondered what methods these pre-historic people used to ward off cattle & human plague.
Susie
There is a tradition of using stones reputed to have magic powers against cattle diseases and human plague.
I've read about it in Scotland in the past:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_057/57_112_119.pdf
and there are many other references that you can find on Google.
Now, what I'm wondering is - will similar ideas come up for bird flu? In the remoter places that bird flu is striking, are there remedies like this? Users generally have to follow a prescribed remedy - e.g. drink water in which the talisman has been dipped twice and then swirled round . The water mustn't touch the ground.
I wonder if similar practices are happening already, and if bird flu continues to spread, will these ideas spread as well ?
I have an interest, because I recently picked up a human-shaped, worked stone on the Ridgeway, the great prehistoric route through England, close by a hill-fort where cattle were kept; and I wondered what methods these pre-historic people used to ward off cattle & human plague.
Susie