The ancient village society lived with a focus on local Hela medicine and traditional food and drinks. The current village society is a group of people who live collectively while maintaining their ancient identity claiming a self-sufficient lifestyle. Against this background, the objective is to study the past situation and the modern nature and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on it. Relevant information was obtained by using the data obtained through interviews with 58 rural households in Alagalla village belonging to Hatharaliyadda Divisional Secretariat Division and from the records of the village officer and the records of the local medical hall. According to these data, it was revealed that there is a wide knowledge and use of the traditional hand medicine of the past villagers in the sample of 10 people over 60 years old. But in the later period, it is possible to identify the distance from this due to leaning towards the Western medicine system, focusing on fast food, and not paying much attention to local medicines. With the after-effects of the Corona epidemic and people's attention being focused on local medicines and food and drinks, the focus was again on this. This is 100% according to the data. The temptation to grow local foods of the past can be identified. It is 80 days according to the data. Among those crops, turmeric, figs, dandila, milk yam, cassava, herbs, and vegetables are the main ones. In the post-COVID pandemic period, trust in local food and Hela medicine has been gained due to Western doctors advising on the use of local herbs, rural people turning to Hela medicine due to the side effects of vaccinations, and increased media awareness. Among the local medicines, the use of a decoction of katupila, Nelli, Aralu, Bulu, Rasakinda, Honey, Nika, Tumba, etc. can be mentioned. Based on this background, introducing Hela medicine as a successful treatment method in the post-Corona period and improving local medicine are the main tasks to be done here. It is correct to say that there is a timely need to discuss the preservation of this valuable wealth of knowledge in Hela medicine as an intangible cultural heritage and its use in current practices. The study revealed that in the wake of the post-COVID epidemic, there is a renewed understanding of Hela medicine and local food and drinks among the rural people.
| Published in | Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 12, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11 |
| Page(s) | 103-108 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
COVID Epidemic, Hela Medicine, Traditional Food and Drink, Village Society, Villagers
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APA Style
Ekanayaka, N. (2024). The Inclination of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese Village Community Towards Hela Medicine and Traditional Food and Drinks During the Post-COVID Pandemic Period. Humanities and Social Sciences, 12(5), 103-108. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11
ACS Style
Ekanayaka, N. The Inclination of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese Village Community Towards Hela Medicine and Traditional Food and Drinks During the Post-COVID Pandemic Period. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2024, 12(5), 103-108. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11
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Download@article{10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11,
author = {Nimesha Ekanayaka},
title = {The Inclination of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese Village Community Towards Hela Medicine and Traditional Food and Drinks During the Post-COVID Pandemic Period
},
journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
volume = {12},
number = {5},
pages = {103-108},
doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20241205.11},
abstract = {The ancient village society lived with a focus on local Hela medicine and traditional food and drinks. The current village society is a group of people who live collectively while maintaining their ancient identity claiming a self-sufficient lifestyle. Against this background, the objective is to study the past situation and the modern nature and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on it. Relevant information was obtained by using the data obtained through interviews with 58 rural households in Alagalla village belonging to Hatharaliyadda Divisional Secretariat Division and from the records of the village officer and the records of the local medical hall. According to these data, it was revealed that there is a wide knowledge and use of the traditional hand medicine of the past villagers in the sample of 10 people over 60 years old. But in the later period, it is possible to identify the distance from this due to leaning towards the Western medicine system, focusing on fast food, and not paying much attention to local medicines. With the after-effects of the Corona epidemic and people's attention being focused on local medicines and food and drinks, the focus was again on this. This is 100% according to the data. The temptation to grow local foods of the past can be identified. It is 80 days according to the data. Among those crops, turmeric, figs, dandila, milk yam, cassava, herbs, and vegetables are the main ones. In the post-COVID pandemic period, trust in local food and Hela medicine has been gained due to Western doctors advising on the use of local herbs, rural people turning to Hela medicine due to the side effects of vaccinations, and increased media awareness. Among the local medicines, the use of a decoction of katupila, Nelli, Aralu, Bulu, Rasakinda, Honey, Nika, Tumba, etc. can be mentioned. Based on this background, introducing Hela medicine as a successful treatment method in the post-Corona period and improving local medicine are the main tasks to be done here. It is correct to say that there is a timely need to discuss the preservation of this valuable wealth of knowledge in Hela medicine as an intangible cultural heritage and its use in current practices. The study revealed that in the wake of the post-COVID epidemic, there is a renewed understanding of Hela medicine and local food and drinks among the rural people.
},
year = {2024}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Inclination of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese Village Community Towards Hela Medicine and Traditional Food and Drinks During the Post-COVID Pandemic Period AU - Nimesha Ekanayaka Y1 - 2024/09/11 PY - 2024 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11 DO - 10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11 T2 - Humanities and Social Sciences JF - Humanities and Social Sciences JO - Humanities and Social Sciences SP - 103 EP - 108 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-8184 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20241205.11 AB - The ancient village society lived with a focus on local Hela medicine and traditional food and drinks. The current village society is a group of people who live collectively while maintaining their ancient identity claiming a self-sufficient lifestyle. Against this background, the objective is to study the past situation and the modern nature and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on it. Relevant information was obtained by using the data obtained through interviews with 58 rural households in Alagalla village belonging to Hatharaliyadda Divisional Secretariat Division and from the records of the village officer and the records of the local medical hall. According to these data, it was revealed that there is a wide knowledge and use of the traditional hand medicine of the past villagers in the sample of 10 people over 60 years old. But in the later period, it is possible to identify the distance from this due to leaning towards the Western medicine system, focusing on fast food, and not paying much attention to local medicines. With the after-effects of the Corona epidemic and people's attention being focused on local medicines and food and drinks, the focus was again on this. This is 100% according to the data. The temptation to grow local foods of the past can be identified. It is 80 days according to the data. Among those crops, turmeric, figs, dandila, milk yam, cassava, herbs, and vegetables are the main ones. In the post-COVID pandemic period, trust in local food and Hela medicine has been gained due to Western doctors advising on the use of local herbs, rural people turning to Hela medicine due to the side effects of vaccinations, and increased media awareness. Among the local medicines, the use of a decoction of katupila, Nelli, Aralu, Bulu, Rasakinda, Honey, Nika, Tumba, etc. can be mentioned. Based on this background, introducing Hela medicine as a successful treatment method in the post-Corona period and improving local medicine are the main tasks to be done here. It is correct to say that there is a timely need to discuss the preservation of this valuable wealth of knowledge in Hela medicine as an intangible cultural heritage and its use in current practices. The study revealed that in the wake of the post-COVID epidemic, there is a renewed understanding of Hela medicine and local food and drinks among the rural people. VL - 12 IS - 5 ER -
Department of Humanities, Rajarata University, Mihinthale, Sri Lanka
