Perista's isolated location made it necessary for villagers to develop their own folk and herbal remedies to either completely cure or at least soften the blow of a serious disease. Most of these remedies were transmitted by word of mouth from father to son and grandfather to grandson; many of them had a sort of magic or superstitious quality about them which may have served to quell the villager's fears, but did nothing to cure the disease itself.

* Penicillin was being used by many of Perista's folk doctors long before Fleming made his discoveries ..known to the world. They would place moldy bread on deep wounds and skin infections to prevent further ..infection and clear up what was there. Moldy foods were commonly ingested during the great hunger that ..plagued the village in 1941, mostly for preventive reasons.

* When someone lost a tooth, they would throw it over the roof of the house and say: "Take a tooth of ..bone and give me back one of steel."

*When a child who had not been baptized fell gravely ill, villagers rushed to baptize it for two reasons: ..one, unbaptized children could not be buried according the rites of the church; and two, the holy waters ..used during the baptism were thought to have healing powers.

*Cysts, warts, and blisters were thought to disappear only after one urinated on them.

*Shreds of leather were placed inside deep cuts to stop the bleeding.

*"Chrisi" (gold) is the name of a thin membrane that connects the upper lip to the upper jaw. A patient ..suffering from jaundice was cured by having this membrane cut with a small knife (the disease was also ..called "chrisi" because the sick person's skin had a gold tinge to it). The procedure could only be done ..on Thursdays or Saturdays for it to be effective.

*Corns and calluses were cured by placing pieces of fried tomatoes or onions on the affected areas.

* Mushrooms were thought to have healing powers, but only those with a stripe across their stem.

* It was important to remove the "dead" blood from a hurt or bruised part of the body. Leeches were used ..for this purpose, as was a cylindrical instrument (aptly called a "sucker"). Both ends of the sucker were ..open; one was placed against the wound, and the dead" blood was sucked out from the other end, ..similar to the way one would use a straw.

* They used leaves from the cornel and quince trees to treat diarrhea; these were thought to "tighten up" .the intestines.

*Sap from evergreen trees was used to treat kidney and liver diseases.

*Raki was rubbed on the chest and back to loosen phlegm and alleviate cold symptoms.

* Ear infections were treated by inserting a cone made of paper and a layer of wax into the ear. The broad ..part of the cone, which was sticking out of the ear, was set on fire; the heated wax was supposed to ..absorb the impurities from the ear canal that were causing the infection.

* People sleeping outdoors during summer nights ate lots of garlic to keep snakes away.

* Burns were treated by placing oil and/or ink over the affected areas. -Pinched nerves in the hand or foot ..were treated by rubbing them with soap and water.

* The "evil eye" was thought to be extremely powerful. It could make a person ill, kill someone's livestock, ..even cause wine to sour. It could only be "cured" by a few elderly women in the village, who knew the ..correct incantations and prayers to say over the head of the afflicted person.