The 'scare therapy'

The healers who currently still practice this therapeutic rite, according to what emerged from the research, are 47, of whom 45 are female and 2 are male. Almost all of these healers are concentrated in the provinces of Cagliari and Nuoro (25 and 17 respectively). There are about 3650 people who use this therapy over a year.

The number of healers who have learned this therapeutic practice in the family is almost equal to that of those who have learned it from strangers or from people in the neighborhood. In the field of learning, the experience of those who, from the sick and healed, become a healer in turn, is common.

All therapeutic rites have as a common base the recitation of 'brebus' and prayers, while they differ in the elements used and in the structure of the rite. In some healers, the central element of the rite is the water, possibly blessed, that the healer gives to the sick person so that he can sprinkle it, marking himself with the cross; some others, on the other hand, use to throw it suddenly on the sick person's neck so that he gets scared.

A large group of healers still practice the therapeutic rite with fumigations. The elements used to produce smoke are the following: incense, palm and various blessed flowers, the wax of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Thursday, or of Candlemas or even of any blessed candle, bay leaf and rosemary. Someone uses to burn, together with these elements, a piece of fabric from a garment worn by the sick person, or a lock of his hair. There are those who also throw ground coffee on the container that contains the embers, to increase the production of smoke.

In the magical-therapeutic rite of fumigation, smoking plays a fundamental role, because it takes away the shadow that had settled in the patient's body as a result of fear. And since this shadow tends to settle in the body of the first living being I encounter, healers categorically rule out that other people can attend the rite. Someone, on the other hand, practices the rite in the presence of a dog, who should take the shadow over himself, thus avoiding harming another person.
In the rite of another group of healers, the central element is the earth, possibly taken from the place where the event that caused the fear occurred.

Some of these healers on that land then practice the rite of “imbruscinadura” by making the sick person spread out on it and inviting him to do cross movements. Someone else, while reciting the prayers, goes around the sick person, letting part of that land fall on his head. A few others pour the soil into a glass and add water to it, of which the sick person must drink three sips.

There are still some healers who practice the rite of “imbruscinadura” in the cemetery, having the sick person spread over three graves of people who died a violent death and a necrophore that prepares medicine for fear using the bones of the dead.
Finally, the therapeutic rite performed by a healer from Villanovatulo is very special.

This one goes to a crossroads and here it collects, one for each branch of the crocicchio, four stones each as large as the capacity of a hand. For the execution of the rite, these stones must be red-hot, then poured into a container containing water in order to produce steam, with which the sick person must be invested. It is evident that in this rite steam has the same function as smoke in the fumigation rite that we saw before.

Update

6/9/2023 - 03:13