Rue as One of the Magical Herbs

Learning Something New Today
& Promoting Original Attitudes

Herbs were at one time an open-air pharmacy and nine of the uncountable herbs available in nature were considered miraculous in Italy because of their specific special powers. One of these herbs was the rue, this is why in our local tradition you may find it as one of the nine herbs of the magical bouquets for the Solstice Night celebrated in Italy as the Eve of St.John's Feast Day.

The symbol of a modern pharmacy store

By taking part in the workshop last June 23rd learning the traditions of St.John's Feast Day, I added more information to my knowledge about the plant of the rue.
First of all, let's start with the original description in Latin " Ruta Graveolens": "graveolens" is an adjective that means "smelly", therefore the plant does not have a pleasant fragrance, secondly to this, the plant of the rue may cause a rush to any skins, it is recommended to use gloves when picking it up, thirdly it is not possible to use rue in large quantities mixed with food, it may be poisonous...apparently one exception is its usage in distilled alcoholic beverages such as the excellent "grappa" out of rue leaves and sprigs, whose origins can be traced back to the first century AD (drink moderately). "Grappa" works perfectly as "The Taming of the Rue", if we wish to use a similar terminology used by Shakespeare for his comedy: "The Taming of the Shrew" (1593) whose plot takes place in Northern Italy, where "grappa" is produced.

The plant of the rue is where
the name of the town of Deruta
comes from. The original name in Latin is
"Ruta Graveolens" (De-ruta=tr.made of rue?
provided of rue? out of rue?
under the protection of the rue?)

The plant of the rue on
top of the crest of Deruta
(detail of a Deruta coat of arms
ceramics plaque)

The question is: why would such a plant be magical when the rue itself has such a bad approach to people (rush, poison, bad scent)? We may think now of what the belief about this plant was: its strong exorcistic power in keeping evil, illness, and fears away! The rue is in the shape of St.Andrew's cross which gives it a divine connotation (the yellow flowers are made of four petals facing each other and diagonal to a square's corners) and what keeps the devil away according to our tradition? The cross and...garlic! Indeed I learned that until about fifty years ago in Italy a remedy made of garlic with a small quantity of rue was given to children to deprive them of eligible worms from their bodies. Additionally, the rue was believed to keep fears away, therefore people carried this plant with them in a container on their chest or in a small pouch to their belt. Last but not least in the Renaissance the plant was considered as anti-pestiferous. This plant must be really powerful!

Example of a botanical garden, from wild nature to
selected growing of medicinal herbs.

Going back to the original natural pharmacy, the nine magical and miraculous herbs are listed as follows:

1. Alloro (tr.Laurel)
2. Artemisia (tr.Warmwood)
3. Elicriso (tr.Helichrysum)
4. Iperico (tr.St.John's Wort) 
5. Lavanda (tr.Lavender)
6. Menta (tr.Mint)
7. Rosmarino (tr.Rosemary)
8. Ruta (tr.Rue)
9. Verbena (tr.Vervain)

Each plant has different powers and usage in cooking and providing natural daily or long terms remedies within a world of pagan and religious traditions which embrace us with lots of love.

Compared to such an enchanting world of times past, of which we give here only a little example, modern pharmacies look like aseptic laboratories. Here chemical remedies are deprived of hope, dream, peace, traditions, on the contrary, we know that our immune system likes to be happy to fight any illness. Of course, the evolution of science in the pharmaceutical field has been very important regarding the efficiency of the products to defeat severe attacks from viruses and bacteria and provide us a longer life. As we know in the field of professional medicine and modern conventional rules the fact of adding emotions, feelings or some history might seem inappropriate, professionals might lose their authority, therefore pharmacists cannot change their attitude towards their clients, apart from rare exceptions, it is up to us to add value to our events in life, mythology and traditions will cheer us up!

Cover of the book:
"Oculists charged Polyphemus half the price"
by Dr. Augusto Petristo, the pharmacist.
As Dr. Peltristo writes in his introduction:
"Il sorriso è la migliore medicina"
(tr."Laughter makes good medicine".

In my life, I have met a couple of original pharmacists in Umbria: one is located on the way from Perugia to Marsciano and he is the only one who gave discounts on his products before the recent revolution of discounts came in, the second is Dr. Augusto Peltristo from Piegaro, Italy who has recently published a book with all the funny answers and gags he entertains his clients with. Dr. Augusto Peltristo is really funny and everything he writes comes from real-life in his pharmacy. Most answers are play-on-words in the Italian language, I do not know if it will make sense to someone who does not speak Italian. It is the concept that is quite interesting, the closeness of a sensitive pharmacist to his clients. The name of the book is: "Polifemo dall'oculista pagava la metà" (tr.Oculists charged Polyphemus half the price) with the contribution of Dr. Loris Ricci. There is a reference to mythology in the title of the book, which I really appreciate and tells me a lot about the attitude of Dr. Augusto Peltristo, who reminds me in the introduction to the book: "laughter is the best medicine". In the book, there is a gag about Deruta. Let me try translating and explaining it to you:

Doctor Peltristo: "..allora signora ha capito?"   (tr. Did you understand what I said, Madam?)
Client: "..sa Dottore sono un po' di coccio.." (tr. I am sorry, you know I am a little dunce/thick...)
Doctor Peltristo: "..ma che viene da Deruta?!" (tr. I guess you are from Deruta?!)

"Essere di coccio" is an expression that translates in English the metaphor: "to be as thick as two short planks", "coccio" literally translates "ceramics" in colloquial Italian, if you knock on ceramics with your closed fist you will hear a muffled sound, which is comparable to the idea of something empty and not responding. Ceramics means Deruta, which is the symbol of ceramics in Umbria, this is where the reference comes from. About any further reference to the quality of the people of Deruta I would say "no comment", I want to think it is restricted to the ceramics themselves, Deruta is where I come from and I can only say nice things about Derutese. I have no idea if you may enjoy the above gag, we are used to it in Deruta, it is part of our tradition!

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If you wish to receive the book please contact me at friendsofcama@gmail.com, I will be happy to send a copy of the book anywhere in the world.
"Polifemo dall'oculista pagava la metà": 10 euros + shipping costs+Paypal fee, if you pay through Paypal. Payment in advance. Revenues from the sale of the book go to the Hospital of Perugia. I bought my copy today!

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Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

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