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Check out these weird and wacky ancient Irish remedies to keep you healthy this winter.
Shakespeare’s witches, with their “Eye of newt, and toe of frog,” could well have been related to some of our Irish ancient ancestors if some of these remedies are to be believed.
From using dead hands and hair clippings to ancient feng shui and potions, the superstitions and remedies of the ancient Irish were certainly strange!
Here’s our selection of the top ten:
1. A corpse’s cure
Using a dead hand as a cure (Getty)
The hand of a corpse was believed to be a cure for all diseases. Sick people would be brought to a house where a corpse was laid out so that the hand could be laid on them.
Similarly, the corner of the sheet used to wrap a corpse was used to cure a headache or a swollen limb.
2. Cures for burns
Funeral candles as a cure (Getty)
The candles used at funerals were also thought to have curative powers. The butts of the candles would be saved to cure burns. Another Irish cure for burns is said to be a raw potato.
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3. Minty fresh immunity
A bunch of mint leaves tied around your wrist was thought to cure stomach disorders as well as warding off infection and disease.
4. Benefits of bed direction
Beneficts of bed direction!
Were the ancient Irish into Feng Shui? The Irish believed that a sick person’s bed should face north to south and never east to west.
5. Remedy from the graveyard
Remedy from the graveyard.
Nettles gathered from a churchyard and boiled down were believed to cure water retention when boiled down into a drink.
6. The sea as a cure
The sea as a cure.
The ancient Irish believed that if a person had a fever they should be placed on the shore when the tide is coming in. When the tide retreats it would carry the fever and the disease with it.
7. Rheumatism remedy
An iron ring worn on the fourth finger would ward off rheumatism.
8. Remedy for fertility issues
Fertility remedy (Getty)
It was thought that the seed of dock leaves (Rumex) tied to the left hand of a woman would prevent her from being barren.
9. Blood purification
Carrots for the blood (Getty)
They believed that boiled-down carrots would purify the blood.
10. No more fits
Our ancestors believed that the clippings of the hair and nails of a child tied in linen and placed under the ill person’s bed would cure convulsions.
Do you know of any other ancient Irish remedies? Share them in the comments!
* Originally published July 2014, updated in 2024.