Bizarre Czech Things Part 1

Skinned Cats and Dog Fat

I have been fortunate enough to live in some interesting places and travel a fair bit where I have truth be told come across a weird and wonderful collection of sayings, cultural practices, food and other bits and pieces, but what I was told recently, was, well, odd in the extreme. A couple of days ago I pulled a muscle in my back and while I was in class I must have been moving with some degree of difficulty as my students picked up on it. One student inquired as to if I have a problem with my back, I replied in the affirmative and she promptly advised me to get hold of some dead cat skin and a belt with which to attach it to the affected area. Needless to say the other students were in hysterics but they were quick to confirm that this was indeed a traditional Czech remedy for back pain largely caused through exposure in a draughty room and as I am now in my sixth month of waiting for new windows this could certainly be one cause of my current ailment. However I am not sure I fancy walking around with some dead cat skin strapped to my lower back though it does to my mind provide a rather amusing, albeit somewhat disturbing image to feline fanciers.

It is not only cat lovers who will be put out by such practices as the conversation turned to another remedy, this time for a cough or bad chest. It seems that the popular cure for such conditions was in fact to rub dog fat onto the chest to relieve and ease breathing, yes you read that right, dog fat. Apparently now of course it is not used though ointments and rubs for this purpose are still often referred to as dog fat. I can only conclude that in the past real dog fat was indeed used for this purpose, though I do not as yet have any evidence of it with the exception of an obscure reference in a forum to dog fat being used as a cure for TB in Poland a century or so ago.

I am not one to judge and believe wholeheartedly in different strokes for different folks but certainly from my own background this justifiably fits into what I deem to be bizarre. It’s little nuggets of culture like this that reinforces my love of travel and living abroad, I wait with great interest and perhaps a small degree of trepidation as to what I shall I find out next, but in the meantime it will be Vicks Vapour Rub (Other brands are available) on my chest and a heat pad on my back, though I shall be keeping an eye out in my local chemists for the cat skin and dog fat aisle.