NM museum opens exhibit on 'curanderismo'

The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology has opened an exhibit on the magical art of curanderismo (coo-RAN-deh-DEES-moh), or the practice of traditional Mexican folk healing. The Albuquerque museum drew dozens of visitors from around the country Saturday to its "Southwest Herbalism & Curanderismo" exhibit with curandera Tonita Gonzales. The internationally-known healer performed limpias (lihm-PEE'-AHS'), or cleansings, for visitors at the opening. Displays featured popular curandero instruments from incense burners used in rituals to cups necessary to cure a spiritual illness. Curanderismo is the art of using traditional healing methods like herbs and plants to treat various ailments. Long practiced in indigenous villages of Mexico and other parts of Latin America, curanderos also could be found in parts of New Mexico, south Texas, Arizona and California. AP