Traditional Healers and Traditional Healing among Ilika Tribes in Garmsar, Iran

Abstract

This paper focuses on traditional healers and traditional healing practices and processes particularly among the contemporary Ilika tribes of Garmsar, Iran. It is written both out of the desire to know and explore the beauty of traditional healing. By the time we had written this paper, we had already had a five-year relationship with the people of Garmsar since we are still teaching anthropology courses in that zone. We realize that we may always be beginning students of Iranian culture especially those related to the dry lands of Iran, including Garmsar. Nevertheless, our attraction to this project was based on the desire to share what we have learned in a way that can help native and indigenous people by portraying the outsiders a cross-cultural understanding on Ilika people. The purpose and the goal of the present anthropological research is to develop a comprehensive understanding of traditional healing process that Ilika tribe people employed and still use relatively for the treatment of different types of illnesses. It was also important to explore the experiences of practitioners of traditional healing because there continues to be a lack of literature on this subject. Furthermore, among the Ilika tribe people themselves, shows that there are significantly lack of understanding, awareness and exposure towards the importance of preserving traditional healing knowledge and traditions.