In this interview Svetlana talks about traditional medicine and medicinal diet. Svetlana: The Kalmyks have always valued cow’s milk. After they settled in Russia, the Kalmyks started to use goat’s milk under the influence of the Russians. I would like to talk now about the medicinal properties of cow’s milk. The Kalmyk breed of cows is called ‘the red steppe species’. Although it gives less milk, its milk is very dense. The Kalmyks use cow’s milk to make 36 different meals, from tea to dairy products. Having several varieties, Kalmyk tea has a relaxing effect. It should be drunk while hot in winter, and cold in summer. I drink tea every day. Dairy products made from cow’s milk are called chigyan (water mixed with milk in the same ratio) and chiidmg. In the past the Kalmyks often fasted for up to three weeks, drinking chigyan or chiidmg only, in this way cleansing their stomach. Butter is used in candles, as well as to make bulmg. It also has medicinal properties. I heard from my grandmother that when the Kalmyks lived in Siberia they did not have much food to eat. A thin layer of hot butter spread on a piece of bread was enough to restore one’s strength. Also, people who were starving were given a small amount of bulmg, a dish made from flour fried in butter. My grandmother filled a bottle with hot butter, wrapped the bottle with a black cloth and then buried it for three years. During this time butter turns white and becomes like ointment. This ointment is good for fever, skin burns, tumors, earache and toothache. In the three years that the butter is stored underground, its medicinal properties only increase. My grandmother always had a bottle at hand, and another buried underground. Question: How can one use butter to treat a headache? Svetlana: Smear the head with butter and wrap the head with a towel. It is okay to drink butter in small quantities as well. Since it is very dense (and powerful), it should not be overused. Question: Do people make such butter today? Svetlana: I don’t know. My mother used to make it, but now she has stopped. Butter does not have to be stored for three years though. You can bottle it in spring and add it to your food in winter. It is very good for one’s health. Question: I heard that people eat wolf’s meat when they have bronchitis. Svetlana: People use a wolf’s gall. I didn’t hear about wolf’s meat being good for bronchitis though. People use the gall of a wolf or hare. If we return to the topic of dairy products, kimr is a drink made from water diluted with milk with ratio 7 to 1. So, 8 cups (i.e. 7 cups of water and 1 cup of milk) has to be boiled until a cupful of liquid remains in the pot. This is called kimr. Kimr is good for fever. Also, 1 cup of salty water is mixed with 1 cup of milk and boiled until half of the content evaporates. This is called shingyavr, which is also good for fever or diarrhea. In the past, after giving birth, women drank tea, kimr or shingyavr for 49 days. For both Kalmyks and Mongols, 49 is a sacral number symbolizing reincarnation. 49 days after one’s funeral people perform a special ritual. After birth, it is also 49 days that people believe it takes for the baby to settle in this world. Question: What is milk vodka used for? Svetlana: Milk vodka can be of four different distillations. 50 liters of milk is enough to produce only 5 liters of vodka, referred to as khar ark, meaning ‘pure vodka’. After first distillation we get ark with 30 to 40 per cent alcohol content. When this vodka is distilled further, it turns into arza which is 60 to 70 per cent strong. When arza is distilled once more, it turns into khorz with 70 to 80 per cent alcohol content. After the fourth distillation comes khorn shu, or ‘pure spirit’, with 90 to 100 alcohol content. This spirit is used to clean purulence wounds. It was also used during massages and to treat frostbite. In the past, 200 grams of milk vodka (of the first distillation) mixed with butter was given to people with fever. I never saw how milk vodka is made. Although my grandmother told me about it, she herself never distilled vodka. The Kalmyks have an old tradition called ‘dem’ when relatives pull resources together to contribute to their relative’s wedding. In the past, people contributed milk, because to make a barrel of vodka required a lot of milk. Question: How did people cure a toothache? Svetlana: I heard from my grandmother and other people as well that people treated their aching teeth with butter stored for three years. Also, people rinsed their mouth with spring water mixed with salt. When inhaled, steam from water boiled with the datura grass stops toothache. Near the village of Khar-Buluk there is a spring with medicinal water that is good for toothache. Question: How did people cure a headache? Svetlana: There were several methods. When I drink Kalmyk tea, my headache goes away. People also massage with hot butter, wrap their head with a towel soaked in mineral water. Question: How did people cure aches in the eyes? Svetlana: I cannot say much about this. But I saw how a stye was treated. My grandmother used to read incantations to the ailing eye: ‘Stye, stye take away your stye’. After the incantation, she poured mineral water on the stye. In the past, Kalmyks lived in yurts which was always filled with smoke. Many people suffered from trachoma, which was considered a genetic disease. People suffering from trachoma also went to see shamans who read incantations and cleansed the ailing eyes with mineral water. The first person in Kalmykia to cure trachoma was a Russian doctor named Semyon Rafaelovich Zalkind. Question: How did people cure pimples? Svetlana: I don’t know. Question: What about furuncle? Svetlana: People read incantations and cleansed with water. Question: Which incantations? Svetlana: Those of the Buddha of Medicine. I do not know these incantations though. Every treatment started with an incantation. I also heard that people used flint stones as well. Question: How did people cure deafness? Svetlana: Cannot say much about it, but I saw how otitis, an inflammation in the ear, was treated by dripping butter. Question: How did people cure pain in the joints? Svetlana: Compresses, usually made from the wool of a camel, a black sheep or cow, were put on the ailing joints. Wounds with pus were sprinkled with ash from the burnt skin of a black sheep or cow. Camel wool is good for rheumatism. Our grandmother kept wool from a camel’s mane. Whenever we fell and hurt our legs or hands, she would bandage the wounded part with that wool. One day my grandmother’s grandfather found a piece of meteorite. He took it to the temple, and then brought it home. With this meteorite he cured tumors. He touched the tumor and read incantations. It was also used to cure muscle sprains and furuncles. This meteorite is still kept by my grandmother’s youngest daughter-in-law who uses it. People who borrow her meteorite for healing purposes should return it to the owner along with red and white coins, as well as a piece of cloth. Question: How did people cure heartache or heart problems? Svetlana: It was treated only by a burn-off method. Today in Kalmykia we do not have people who can do this properly. In Komsomol’skyi there lived someone who cured heartache with a kopek coin that was massaged into certain parts of the patient. Heart attack was treated with incantations only. Question: How did people cure the liver? Svetlana: I did not hear much about how to cure liver. I only heard that in this situation people cut a sheep’s liver into small pieces, boil it in hot butter and give it to the patient. Question: What was the most widespread disease among the Kalmyks? Svetlana: Tuberculosis and trachoma. Nomads got a cold during nomadizing, and people often suffered from tuberculosis. The first and foremost medicine for tuberculosis is kumis, or fermented mare’s milk. The Kalmyk who opened the first clinic to cure with kumis was Garya Balzanov whose youngest daughter Loola suffered from tuberculosis. The village of Loola has been named in her honour. After the girl was cured with kumis, her father decided to open a clinic to help other families as well, since at that time whole families just died out from this illness. He brought a hundred mares from Bashkiria and opened his clinic in 1915. Question: Does this clinic still work today? Svetlana: The clinic survived, but it does not offer kumis treatment anymore. The second most widespread disease was trachoma. Question: What is trachoma? Svetlana: It is the inflammation of the eyelids when a person cannot open his/her eyes. The eyesight deteriorates and a blood clot appears in the eyes. It is a very serious illness. In order to keep their teeth healthy, the Kalmyks did not boil meat for long and gave their children dried cheese to chew. Question: What kind of teeth do the modern Kalmyks have? Svetlana: Very bad, because we have neglected our traditions. Question: Which medicinal plants do the Kalmyks use? Svetlana: There are more than 300 varieties of plants in Kalmykia. Take the sagebrush: tea made from it is like an antidote that cleans the organism. It also suppresses fever. In the past the Kalmyks hung this plant inside their yurt to keep insects out. The smell of the sagebrush cannot be compared with any other smell. My grandmother used it as incense. Thyme also suppresses fever and helps clear the throat. Corn, sunflower, cane, oak bark and many other plants can be used for medicinal purposes as well. Question: Were nettles also used? Svetlana: Yes. Dandelion, chamomile, salvia were all used. Question: Did people use plants that do not grow in Kalmykia? Svetlana: Yes. Question: Were mushrooms used too? Svetlana: Rarely. I did not hear of that. Today people soak amanita in vodka. Question: If we return to the topic of meat, we have saiga antelopes and ground squirrels. Was their meat used? Svetlana: Saiga horns were used. My grandmother used the horn of a male saiga as a fever suppressing remedy. Its meat is believed to cleanse the stomach. The gall of a saiga, wolf, hare or a sheep was also used. It was mixed with butter and smeared on skin burns. The fat of a ground squirrel is good for diathesis, scrofula, cough, heart problems and aches in the spine. Question: The fat from a sheep’s tail, was it also used? Svetlana: I heard this from my grandmother that when the Kalmyks were sent into exile to Siberia, many people ended up in Shiroklag camps. From there people returned home sick and very thin. Those who were given food with sheep’s fat, gradually recovered. Having said this, fat should be given in small quantities. Soup made from dove meat is good for high blood pressure. When my mother had high pressure, we made her dove soup, after which her blood pressure went down. Dove meat is also considered dietary. Question: Were hooves and bones also used? Svetlana: As I said, the horns and hooves of a saiga, cow or a sheep. Question: Was dog’s meat used to treat lungs? Svetlana: Rarely, but yes.