2,030 Abibisika (Black Gold) Points

Rank: Unranked Newbie

Afrikan indigeneity should be viewed as both a process and a form of identity. It is an identity that defines who a people are at a practical point in time. But it also should be recognised that identities are in continual process of existence. Indigenous knowledge therefore should be defined as a cumulative body of strategies, practices, techniques, tools, intellectual resources, explanations, beliefs and values accumulated over time in a particular locality and without any influence or impositions of external hegemonic forces.

Ancient Afrikan medical practices are very much holistic where the mind and body are viewed as interconnected. “Health” through the lens of our ancestors is a state of positive mental and physical wellbeing, a state of normality marked by the absence of disease. Their continuous studies and findings gives us a perspective that overall health is a normal state in which we can attain the best, thereby contributing towards the greater good. It is overstood as a state of wellbeing which refers to the state of fulfilment whereby both us (individuals) and society are completely spared from mental and physical discomfort to enjoy peace of mind.

What is called today as “Cupping Therapy” but was and is still called many different names around the continent as well as around the world is a time honoured ancient Afrikan practice that started and has been used as medical therapy for thousands of years. This technique involves the creation of a vacuum and localised pressure that ultimately facilitates suction that leads to the release of harmful toxins from the body (used mostly on the back).

Throughout our history and cultural continuity; cupping techniques and styles have often resembled the geographical locations they were practiced in, as well as utilising a regions local materials. Cupping was developed in prehistoric times in Afrika where simple techniques (yet highly effective) were used such as oral suction to suck blood out from a wound; this was very much natural instinct. The first type of cups were made of animal horns, which is why cupping therapy was first known as “horn therapy). Hollow animal horns were first used and oral suction was applied to create a vacuum to drain toxins and to draw out illnesses where they were bites, stings, infections or any other form of disease.

With the pointed end of the horn pierced, the horn was then placed on the surface of the skin. The vacuum was then created by orally sucking the air out of the horn through the hole. When the vacuum was achieved, the end of the horn was then sealed with a wad of dried grass which would be immediately placed into the opening by the nimble workings of the tongue. Another way to cause suction was for the healer to burn dry leaves which would be placed inside the horn to produce suction and left until the hear dissipates.

When the cups are left in place on the skin for the required time, blood stasis is formed which showed that localised healing is taking place. Our ancestors studied and from their findings found that cupping stimulates the sensory nerves of the skin and resulted not only in an optimal regeneration of the body on many levels but leads also to emotional relaxation and balance. The vibrational freedom of the cells and their undisturbed functioning is then restored. Optimisation of the bodys own vibrational capacity lead to the harmonisation of the energy flow and to a renewal of previously lost energy resources (vitality) – the quality of life improved significantly and with no side effects.

As time moved on over the years, the horns then devolved into bamboo, seashells, bones, earthenware cups, gourds and ceramic glasses which today on the continent as well in some parts of the world still use these as suction devices. Whereas cupping started in Afrika, the very first civilisation to systematically document this practice was Ancient Kemet. The earliest record is said to be documented in the Ebers Papyrus one of the oldest medical textbooks in the world and which was dated by the material it was written on called papyrus (c.1550 BC).

The Ebers Papyrus is said to mention that cupping was used for almost every disorder including fever, pain, vertigo as well as menstrual imbalances etc… as well help to accelerate healing. The antiquity of this practice is also a talking point as pictorial evidence on the twin wall of the Kom Ombo Temple (wall dedicated to Heru and Sobek) at Upper Kemet shows hieroglyphic relief of various medical and surgical instruments. The cups pictured is thought to represent cupping and also is meant to be the symbol of medicine.

From here, they then passed on their knowledge onto the Greeks where both Hippocrates and Gales/Galen especially were staunch advocates and documented using this procedure for many internal and structural diseases. During this time there were two main methods which were bloodletting or wet or dry cupping. No matter what in Kemet standards were laid down and there were strict rules and regulations about this practice as well as with medicine and dentistry. This technique soon spread through the medicine world with each having their own names and their very own methods.

But in the mid 1800’s, there was a decline in cupping therapy. It was sharply criticised by the western medical fraternity and had fallen away as a popular method and even though some parts of Afrika and other parts of the world continued to practice their tradition, the new scientific method of medicine purposely discredited all other previous established traditional therapies in order to gain medical dominance. Cupping and other preventative care no longer fell into the new paradigm of medicine therefore stigmatised as folk remedy and that this practice had no valid research to support its claim.

However, over the 19th, 20th and 21st Century, the tide continues to turn slowly as people are rediscovering ancient healing and as a result there are some practices that have welcomed the acknowledgement as well as reinstating alternative therapy. Afrikan people as well as other nations are turning back to the beginning to find alternative healing, looking for more choices, other than drugs, wanting something non-invasive, calming and relaxing. Afrikan medical practice went largely unchanged and was and is still highly advanced for its time that cupping has slowly developed into a very popular technique.