FARMACOPEA HERBOLARIA Y TERAPIA RITUAL: UNA CONTRIBUCIÓN PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LA MEDICINA TRADICIONAL DE LA YUNGA BOLIVIANA.

Based on original material, the author analyses the therapeutic practices carried out by the traditional healers from the Bolivian mountain tropical jungle, who usually name themselves as kallawaya. She stresses that the therapeutic procedures combine ritual healing with remedies, fixed mainly with vegetables, which revel a deep knowledge of the flora and its therapeutic properties. Firstly, the author focuses on the more frequent techniques used to treat the illnesses explained by natural causes, then, she explores the procedures used to treat the illnesses explained as the result of the power and actions of some human beings and the deities, showing that in this new context, more ritual therapies appear, adding that the deep meanings of such practices basically is to restore and maintain the equilib-rium between the individuals and the deities, who regier the native cosmos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]