Source: https://culture.pl/en/article/camomile-tea-lavender-fields-the-polish-love-of-herbs
The Polish affinity for herbs has a long history, but it is also very much in tune with the modern ideas of healthy, natural living. What can be seen as a trend in some Western countries is in fact an inherent element of Polish culture. How does one lead a healthy, herbal life – the Polish way?
Feeling nervous? Drink some lemon balm tea! Had too much to eat? Mint tea is the answer. Sore throat? Sage will help you for sure! Your eyes hurt? Put some camomile tea bags on them! Take milk thistle for your liver, horsetail for your kidneys, and fennel for your tummy.
Garlic for the flu, vinegar for bruises, cabbage for ulceration… Poland’s home remedies passed down from generation to generation make up an entire universe of alternative medicine. Because some of these methods may seem odd, let’s discuss them one by one so that you know which suggestions to accept or reject if you happen to feel unwell in Poland.
That’s the kind of health advice you might hear from a Pole when you’re not feeling great. And you don’t even need to go to the pharmacy or a specialist herbal store – most of these remedies are easy to find in any grocery store you come across.
The tradition of zielniki
Salvia sclarea, photo: Tymon Markowski / AG
In his 16th-century book Herbarz Polski (Polish Herbarium), the Polish pharmacist and priest Marcin z Urzędowa wrote:
There would be no pricier medicine in the pharmacy than herbs, if they weren’t so common, and nature gives birth to them so commonly as not to be deminuta in necessarius [lacking in what’s necessary].
Trans. NMR
Herbs are the oldest treatment out there, and folk medicine has made use of them all around the world since time immemorial. In Poland, traditional remedies have always been connected to the plentiful fields and forests and – as in the case of the Eastern Orthodox szeptuchy in Podlasie, who even today treat diseases with natural remedies while praying to God to heal their patients – herbal treatments often connect the remnants of pagan traditions with Christian faith.
Major scientific research about herbs began in the 16th century thanks to the famous Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus. More and more ‘herbarias’ (zielniki), namely collections of preserved plant specimens and data gathered about them, were published all around Europe, as well as treatises about plant characteristics and uses. They quickly reached Poland through translation and were also compiled by Polish biologists such as Stefan Falimirz (the author of the first scientific treatise about herbs written in Polish in 1534 entitled O Ziołach i Mocy Ich [On Herbs and Their Power]), Maciej Miechowita and Marcin Siennik. Szymon Syreniusz created the unique Zielnik in 1613, in which for the first time he described 765 plants growing in Central and Eastern Europe.
Another figure worth mentioning is Michał Boym, a 17th-century Polish Jesuit monk who was one of the first Westerners to travel to China and write extensively about its flora and fauna, particularly traditional Chinese medicine.
Anna Wazówna, photo: Multimedia in Wikimedia Commons
Anna Wazówna, the daughter of King Jan III Waza, was the author of the first Polish zielnik made with specimens of dried herbs, but unfortunately it was destroyed during World War II. The princess was very interested in plants and their health benefits; she even had a laboratory and a herb garden. And she wasn’t the only one: plants weren’t just randomly growing in fields and meadows at the time, but were also grown in gardens by wealthy citizens and monks. Herb honeys, vinegars, liqueurs and oils were stacked in their pantries.
This was particularly the case with Bonifratrzy – the so-called Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God – who came to Poland in the early 17th century and are well-known for their holistic efforts to cure diseases using natural remedies. Even today, in their herbal shops and pharmacies in Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków, Łódź, Piaski Legnica and Cieszyn, they offer herbal mixtures and drops, cosmetics and nalewki as well as free medical advice. They say that willow bark helps with pain, hawthorn fights hypertension and pansy treats acne, all while reminding their patients that herbal medicine is not an alternative to going to the doctor, but only a helpful tool which helps lessen the symptoms.
Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God Convent, Kosynierów Gdyńskich St, Łódź, pictured: Jan Kubiak in his herbarium, photo: Marian Zubrzycki / Forum
Probably the most important figure in the history of Polish herbalism was the 18th-century priest Jan Krzysztof Kluk, the author of a three-volume 1777-1778 compendium snappily titled Roślin Potrzebnych, Pożytecznych, Wygodnych, Osobliwie Krajowych Albo Które w Kraju Użyteczne Być Mogą, Utrzymanie, Rozmnożenie i Zażycie (The Maintenance, Reproduction and Usage of Necessary, Useful, Convenient Plants, Especially Domestic Ones and Those Which Can Be Domestically Used) and Dykcjonarz Roślinny (Plant Dictionary) from 1786-1788, based on Paracelsus’ works. Kluk was an enemy of the growing popularity of imported black tea and instead encouraged drinking oregano, betony or gypsyweed infusions. He claimed that local plants were more hygienic, and he questioned the methods used by the Chinese to store tea leaves in lead cases:
[…] then a naked Chinese man enters the case and tramples on it with his feet: it’s easy to suppose that even if he does it with care, one should fear the sloppiness of sweaty feet.
Trans. NMR
Herbs in the 20th century
When she retired, Krystyna Nowak moved to Białowieża to grow herbs, photo: Andrzej Sidor / Forum
One could say that in the supposedly more enlightened 20th century, there were two approaches to herbs: one more ‘spiritual’ and ‘unconventional’, and the other more ‘scientific’, which treated phytotherapy as an inherent part of medicine. In Poland, Stanisław Breyer was an advocate for plant-based medicine (as well as for a mostly raw, vegetarian diet), and he promoted it in the magazine Zielnik Polski (Polish Herbaria) (1921-1922):
This magazine is essential to all adherers of natural healing as well as those who collect and grow therapeutic herbs! A new source of national wealth! The first magazine of this kind in Poland!
Trans. NMR
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Natalia Metrak-Ruda is a literary translator & food writer. She has a PhD in cultural studies, two cats and a little son. She writes about food history on her website Przeszłość od kuchni.
