Academically and socially speaking, the significant erasure of women from history is a crucial issue. As historian Dr. Bettany Hughes pointed out, ‘Women have always been 50% of the population, but only occupy around 0.5% of recorded history.’ As we celebrate Women’s History Month this March, it’s important to remember that our feeds, newsletters, and blogs will be filled with the stories and faces of the few women who have made history. But the real question is, how do we move beyond March and integrate historical and present-day women into everyday life?
Throughout history, storytelling has been a primary method for replaying cultural and historical events. These oral traditions of passing stories from generation to generation have played a marked role in how history has been written. In the past, women were less likely to become storytellers for communities due to the requirement that they tend to the home rather than travel to other homesteads to share their stories. Thus, the stories that women shared were most likely shared by women to women and within kitchens.
Women have been left out of history for many reasons, most of which are due to the limitations and restrictions they have faced throughout history. For instance, they have been unable to access higher education, societal expectations that women’s duties are solely that of a homemaker, and overall discrimination against females; because of these reasons and more, we only see traces of courageous women celebrated throughout history.
We are the other 45.5% of the population not being recorded; we need to make a shift, and this shift starts with you, me, and our ability to tell our stories. To do so means sharing your stories of the women in your life. Become the storyteller your great ancestor couldn’t be so we may all be seen. These stories are the backbone of our hidden histories, no matter how big or small.
To Grandma Bonnie Pelzer, may you live on through this story.
When I was a small child, my grandma Bonnie cared for me while my mom worked. Grandma Bonnie lived with Grandpa Max on a farm in rural Iowa, and I was first introduced to herbalism during those faded memories on the farm.
This is my Raspberry story, a personal narrative that intertwines the themes of women’s history and herbalism and serves as a testament to the power of storytelling in preserving our cultural heritage.
Grandma had many points of harvest on her homestead, and the raspberry patch was immense, wild, and untamed. It stretched the length of the back end of their three-stall garage. Entering this area guaranteed itchiness, but if you timed it just right, you were gifted the juicy sweetness of homegrown raspberries.
I was around four or five when Grandma Bonnie instructed me on my first raspberry harvest. Grandma turned to me in the kitchen and handed me a yellow plastic bowl with a spout and a handle, most likely from the 1970s. This yellow plastic bowl lives in my mind as the designated harvesting bowl for any fun activity at grandma’s house, like garden harvesting, meat from fish flaying, and frog legs after catching frogs with Grandpa.
That Raspberry summer day, the yellow bowl and I followed Grandma out to the patch where Grandma pointed to the vines and showed me how to touch the plant without getting too itchy. Then, Grandma picked three different raspberries. She showed me one that was over-ripe with bugs, one that was under-ripe, and one that was perfect. I tasted the perfect one, and I swallowed with delight. The under-ripe raspberry was spat out as I puckered my face, and the over-ripe one was thrown to the ground. I had been given a mission. I started through the vines, and for every couple of raspberries that went into the bowl, the same number entered my mouth. My mouth and fingers were stained, my arms were itching, my belly and the yellow bucket were full, and we headed inside to make jam.
When I think of this memory, I still hear the summer bugs. I feel the sun warm on my shoulders. And I feel safe with the comfort of my grandma working silently beside me. These memories and sensations are so entwined into my relationship and story with Raspberry. I didn’t know it then, but my grandmother was introducing me to one of nature’s most nurturing herbs for women.
Herbs go hand in hand with storytelling. Many of herbs’ medicinal and metaphysical properties have been passed down through the ages through storytelling. Raspberry, botanically known as Rubus idaeus, is no different. It is said to have been discovered and named by Olympian gods on Mount Ida. The Latin name Rubus Idaeus means “bramble bush”. According to herb lore, the nursemaid to the infant Zeus was named Ida. One day, while picking berries, she pricked her finger on white berries, staining the berries red for all eternity. (2)
The use of raspberries is found in archaeological digs from prehistorical times in Europe. When steeped as a tea, the leaves resemble the taste of a black tea. Medicinally speaking, raspberry has long been thought of and used as a woman’s herb. Extremely tonifying to the reproductive system and nutrient-dense. Raspberry is considered a premier uterine tonic for pregnancy; it is known to shorten labor, strengthen the uterus muscles, and help to reduce potential hemorrhaging post-birth. This cool and drying herb is also excellent for decreasing PMS symptoms. Due to raspberry’s drying nature, it’s essential to monitor any long-term use or mix raspberry with other, more moistening herbs to balance its properties and meet your body’s needs. (3)
Without centuries-long storytelling, many of the medicinal herbs we use today may not exist. It is through storytelling that we have kept these traditions alive. When I think of raspberry, I think of its strong, nurturing, and protective properties, just like my grandma.
I encourage you to look at the women in your life. What stories do they tell? What story do you tell? How can you share those stories to ensure they live on? How can you rekindle the flames of women in history, bring the past into the present, and send it forward into the future?
Resources:
- English Heritage. Why Were Women Written Out Of History? An Interview With Bettany Hughes. 29 February 2016. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk
- The Herb Society of America Blog. Jan. 13.2020. Raspberry, Herb of the Year, and Herb of the Month: History and Lore. Pat Greathead
- 3) Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism.Malcolm Stuart. Raspberry. p255.
