Originally posted by Turnbull:
That technique was called "cupping," and it was a popular folk remedy among Southern and Eastern European immigrants to the US. You heated the inside of a glass hemisphere with a candle and applied it to the skin of the sick person. It was supposed to draw the "bad blood" to the surface, where it would be dissipated. I will bet that you can still find people who do this in various ethnic neighborhoods.
Exactly right. And some of the old school Italians would first rub hot olive oil on the area before they proceeded with the technique described by Turnbull.
Don Cardi
