The Herbs of the Commons Became Weeds, the Women of the Commons Became Witches
Couch, Amanda (2023) The Herbs of the Commons Became Weeds, the Women of the Commons Became Witches. In: CHASE Medical Humanities Network Event, 12 January 2023, Online. (Unpublished)
Amanda facilitates a participatory performance, 'The Herbs of the Commons Became Weeds, the Women of the Commons Became Witches' to explore and celebrate the wild plants that women would have used as food and medicine. Together participants and host will infuse hot water with rosehips and imbibe the brew whilst reflecting on the relationship to our bodies, the land, and wild plants, their nourishment and healing.
Through foraging, food preparation, drinking and discussion, the workshop aims to unearth, revive and disseminate knowledge lost by our being severed from the land and our ancestors of wise women who were persecuted, tortured, and killed during the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries, to make and re-make the commons.
The wild rose, a thorny clamberer of the hedgerows, with its ‘hip’ fruit that is potentially still available in November/December, symbolises the problematic and challenging times that we find ourselves in as well as these dark histories. Through the creative act of making and drinking the herbal tea we might absorb the knowledge of the rose as it infuses and flows through our bodies enabling the stories of our kinship to plants, land and healing to pour out in the safe space ‘sub rosa’.
Prior to the seminar, you will be invited to forage for some rosehips, or to request some foraged and prepared by Amanda*. Your rosehip tea can be made from fresh or dried hips. During the session, you will need a vessel to boil water in and a vessel to drink from.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8344-9668
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