According to legend, Yao ancestors have been short of medical care and medicine during their migration. In addition, Yao people live on a misty high slope for many years, and the humidity is high, which is easy to cause diseases such as rheumatism and typhoid fever. According to statistics, there are about 188 prescriptions for medicated bath, which are mainly used to treat 47 diseases. More than 20 kinds of herbs used for bathing every day, including herbs and shrubs, can be recognized by people in Gaohua Village. Yao Village, Gaohua Village, Cuili Township, congjiang county, Guizhou Province, has passed down a unique bathing method-Yao medicated bath from generation to generation.
According to the "Congjiang County Records Overview" of the Republic of China, "Yao Ban is so clean, you should have a bath tub at home, and you should take a medicine bath when you come home from work. Because it is deep and clean, most people live long. " Since ancient times, due to historical reasons, the local Yao stockade has generally been built on high mountains. The stockade is surrounded by dense forests and shrouded in mist all the year round. Bamboo forests, tea forests and various trees are planted in front of and behind every household. Every family uses bamboo poles to introduce mountain springs into their homes, and there are bathtubs made of fir trees at home. Whenever a guest enters the village, the villagers will warmly treat the distant guests with oil tea and medicated bath, which is the highest etiquette for Yao people to receive guests.
Every household in Yao Village has become a "convention". In Gaohua Village, every household has one or several cauldrons for boiling medicine. After a day's work, Yao people must take a medicinal bath for more than half an hour when they get home, and then drink mountain spring water or a bowl or two of camellia oleifera. Drink tea every day, and take medicine bath every day. This good habit has continued to this day, and Yao medicinal bath runs through the lives of Yao compatriots in Congjiang.
Yao's medicated bath is a liquid medicine made from a variety of herbs. The liquid medicine is put into a cedar barrel, and people sit in the barrel and soak in a fumigation bath, so that the liquid medicine permeates the viscera and meridians of the whole body, and achieves the effects of expelling wind and removing dampness, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, sweating and expelling toxins, refreshing and beautifying. It is especially effective in preventing and treating diseases such as rheumatism, gynecology, skin and common cold. People with different physical characteristics need different prescriptions, and these prescriptions can only be autobiographed within the family since ancient times and are not known to the outside world.
"There is no idle grass in Guizhou, and there are panaceas everywhere." The original ecological, pure natural and pollution-free wild plants have become the medical treasures of Yao people's health care, which have been passed down from generation to generation and are deeply loved by everyone.