First Congress on Traditional Medicine and Herbalism at Cencalli

From September 6 to the 8 we attended the First Congress on Traditional Medicine and Herbalism at Cencalli. Over 20 wise men and women shared their ancestral knowledge on medicinal plants, healing rituals and traditional practices.

The congress took place at Los Pinos, the  official residence of the President of Mexico from 1924 to 2018, located inside of Chapultepec Park.

Since December 2018, the former presidential complex has operated as a cultural space. Within Los Pinos Cultural Complex is Cencalli, the house of corn and food culture. The museum is dedicated to the 68 indigenous cultures of Mexico and their cultural biodiversity. Cencalli means family in Nahuatl. What once used to be the seat of power, and the presidential palace has now become the house of the people.

Knowledge about the use of medicinal plants is millenary and has been associated with ideas, experiences, beliefs and traditions, generating a strong connection between the great diversity of plants and the cultures that have learned to use them. It is estimated that worldwide, more than 52,000 plant species are used for medicinal purposes. China ranks first with a total of 4,900 species of medicinal plants while Mexico ranks second with the use of approximately 4,500 species, which represents 0.86% of the world total and 18% of the plants that make up the vegetation of Mexico(25,008 species).

In 2023, UNESCO defined intangible cultural heritage as the practices, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and sometimes individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. Also called living cultural heritage, it is usually expressed in one of the following forms: oral traditions; performing arts; social practices, rituals and festive events; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and traditional craftsmanship.

Traditional Mexican medicine, based on herbalism is a form of intangible cultural heritage, passed on from one generation to the other and full of symbolism and rituals. With very prepared presentations, wisdom and knowledge, this first congress marked one of many highlighting the cultural richness of Milpa Alta and Xochimilco, in the outskirts of Mexico City.

The importance of the Códice de la Cruz Badiano to keep that memory alive was also recognized. The Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, known as Codex Badiano or Codex de la Cruz-Badiano was compiled in 1552 by the Nahuatl physicians Martín de la Cruz and Juan Badiano, at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Santiago Tlatelolco, Xochimilco. It represents a key piece to understand and preserve the ancestral knowledge of Mesoamerican plants.

The Codex was commissioned by Francisco de Mendoza son of the viceroy of Mendoza, in order to give it as a gift to Emperor Charles V as a sample of the natural wealth of the “Indies”. It was given to his successor, Philip I and kept in the Royal Library until the 17th century when it became part of the collection of Diego de Cortavila, pharmacist to King Philip IV and later taken to Italy by the pharmacist Cassiano dal Pozzo (who made a copy that ended up in the archives of the Winsdor Library in England) and incorporated into the collection of Cardinal Francisco Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VII. In 1625 the collection became part of the archives of the Vatican Library in Rome where, in 1929, it was discovered by the American historian Charles Upson Clark and led to its publication in English (The de la Cruz Badiano aztec herbal of 1552), translated by Demetrio S. García into Spanish under the title “Libro de yerbas medicinales de los indios”. In 1991, after the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Vatican, Pope John Paul II returned it to Mexico, forming part of the National Library of Anthropology.

There was also a presentation of a beautiful collection of books on Medicinal Plants of the Conservation Land of Mexico City, developed by the Natural Resources and Rural Development Commission of Mexico through its Altépetl Bienestar Social Program for the benefit of ecosystems, agroecosystems and the communities that inhabit the Conservation land of Mexico City, home to people who have preserved for generations the original knowledge about plants and their benefits for health and the environment.

A PDF free version of these beautiful collection of books is available online here