Zurgada Antonova, Healing Children
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Zurgada talks about an old female folk healer who healed sick children. The folk healer used a coin (a Soviet kopek) with which she touched the body of the patient. Frightened children were treated by melted tin as well. A piece of tin is melted on a fire. The head of the frightened child is covered with a white sheet. A white sheet of paper is put into a wooden cup and filled with water. Then the melted tin is poured into the cup above the head of the child. The hiss produced by the hot tin interacting with water makes the child jerk. When the tin cools down, the healer reads for the shapes which indicate what the fear was about – a dog, bird, a man etc. After the ritual, the cup is kept outside for three days before it can be brought back into the house.