Braucherei

Braucherei or Brauche (Pennsylvania Dutch language), in English called powwow or pow-wow, is a system of Christian folk practice originating in the culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 1700s. Braucherei includes a range of healing rituals used primarily for treating ailments in humans, livestock, and crops, as well as securing physical and spiritual protection, and other boons. Along with folk plant medicine, braucherei forms one of two traditional healing practices among the Pennsylvania Dutch, although some researchers consider them to be the one and the same.

Although the term powwow is a Native American loanword into English, these folk practices are ultimately of European origin and were brought to colonial Pennsylvania in the transatlantic migrations of German-speaking people from Central Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Powwow draws from earlier material in German-speaking Europe, including European grimoires, folk belief, and a variety of Christian texts. Like most folk traditions, powwowing changed and evolved over the years.

The practice has been influential in American folk culture, with scholars noting that it seems to have been influential especially in Appalachia and the rural South and the Ozarks. Braucherei was highly visible in population centers in the region until the 1920s. In more recent times it has inspired new religious movements. It remains a subject of study among scholars and a point of public interest.