# Persian: Chinese cupping



## seitt

Greetings,

I saw something very similar to this being done on Iran TV:
http://arch1design.com/blog/eco-design/chinese-cupping/
Please go to “Figure 2: Flash-fire cupping.”

It may also be known as moxibustion. Whether or not it is really from China I don't know; perhaps it's from Iran originally.

But what do you call this practice (these practices?) in Persian, please?

I do hope I've given you enough to go on – I know very, very little about such things.

Best wishes, and many thanks,

Simon

PS I've just seen some notes I took at the time: apparently the method used sounded like ‘واکش درمانی’ (vākeš darmāni).


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## searcher123

> But what do you call this practice (these practices?) in Persian, please?


بادكش كردن/انداختن



> I know very, very little about such things.


Well, بادكش انداختن is really efficacious specially for pain and cramp. In this method, the air of inside of a glass will be warmed by fire and then the glass is put on the place of pain. When the air is took cold, a vacuity is happened into the glass and the skin is absorbed into that. So a huge amount of blood will be flowed to this place and this is the secret of the healing.

Using بادكش on each part of body have a different usage. For example your picture will instigated the body to create blood cells.


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## seitt

Thank you so much, excellent.

Is بادكش completely different from فتیله‌گذاری (moxibustion), then?
http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/فتیله‌گذاری

Or could بادكش be the Iranian equivalent of فتیله‌گذاری?


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## searcher123

> Is بادكش completely different from فتیله‌گذاری (moxibustion), then?


Yes, it is, however, I'm not aware about فتيله‌گذاري at all. It is not of Iranian medicine, exactly as طب سوزني that is of Chinese medicine.


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## seitt

Many thanks, excellent.

Btw, this passage from Wiki has been a great help to me:
Moxibustion – Acupuncture is often accompanied by moxibustion, the burning of cone-shaped preparations of Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort) on or near the skin, often but not always near or on an acupuncture point. Traditionally acupuncture was used to treat acute conditions while moxibustion was used for chronic diseases. Moxibustion could be direct (the cone was placed directly on the skin and allowed to burn the skin producing a blister and eventually a scar), or indirect (either a cone of mugwort was placed on a slice of garlic, ginger or other vegetable, or a cylinder of mugwort was held above the skin, close enough to either warm or burn it).


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## searcher123

You are welcome as always and thanks because of this informative information in turn. As I told, I have not enough knowledge about Chinese medicine and Acupuncture is a Chinese medicine.


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## seitt

You are most welcome too as always, God bless you.

It turns out I was wrong about the source of the thread – it was actually in an Iranian film I've been watching, “ازدواج به سبک ایرانی”.

Here are some examples of usage I think I heard – are they good Persian, please?

A wife says to her husband:
پا شو! یه چند تا بادکش به پشتت بندازم. خستگی از تنت در می‌ره.
By the way, is بندازم pronounced ‘bendāzam’?

Their daughter refers to this treatment as follows:
بادکش‌درمانی آقا جون
Could she also have said بادکش‌اندازی?
By the way, is بادکش‌درمانی without a kasre between the two parts? I.e. بادکشْ‌درمانی?


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## searcher123

> are they good Persian, please?


Yes, they are.



> By the way, is بندازم pronounced ‘bendāzam’?


Yes, that is.



> Could she also have said بادکش‌اندازی?


No, she couldn't.



> By the way, is بادکش‌درمانی without a kasre between the two parts? I.e. بادکشْ‌درمانی?


You are right. There is not any Kasre on بادكش.


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## seitt

Many thanks, all well and truly sorted out.


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## seitt

I recently came across داغ فتیله‌ای, with a kasre after the first word. According to Hayyem, this word means ‘moxa’, the plant used in moxibustion.

Is this term familiar to anyone, please?


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## fdb

The Arabic word for "cupping" is _ḥijāma__, _used (I think) also in Persian.


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## Treaty

_ḥejāma__t _حجامت (the most common), _kūze andāxtan_ کوزه انداختن and_ bādkeš kardan_ بادکش کردن are all used in Persian mainly when the _blood is sucked _by  the cupping. However, I guess it is possible to use them for  non-invasive cupping as well (probably by adding خشک _dry _to them). In the 12th century book ذخیرۀ خوارزمشاهی, cupping is called شیشه نهادن (and in Dehkhoda شیشه برنهادن). 



seitt said:


> I recently came across داغ فتیله‌ای, with a kasre after the first word. According to Hayyem, this word means ‘moxa’, the plant used in moxibustion.


According to this article, moxa is called درمنه in Persian traditional medicine. I guess داغ فتیله ای is a mixture of plants not the moxa plant itself.


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## seitt

Thank you very much indeed.


> when the _blood is sucked by the cupping_


Do you mean that the skin is actually broken and the patient bleeds?


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## Treaty

seitt said:


> Thank you very much indeed.
> 
> Do you mean that the skin is actually broken and the patient bleeds?



You're welcome.

They first make tiny cuts or scratches on the skin and then place the cups.


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## seitt

Many thanks - so the lack of air in the cups sucks the blood out through the cuts and scratches, does it? Is it painful?


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## Treaty

seitt said:


> Many thanks - so the lack of air in the cups sucks the blood out through the cuts and scratches, does it?


Yes.


seitt said:


> Is it painful?


I've not tried it . But my brother (a doctor) told me people who "believe" in it feel comfortable during the process.


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## searcher123

seitt said:


> (...)Is it painful?


I have seen very little boys during Hijaamat without any reaction. So I can say it is not painful; at least not so much. Albeit I have used بادكش (i.e. حجامت خشك) on myself so many times and I can say it is very painful at start. but after a while, the pain will be off completely. Also I should say it is really effective.


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## seitt

Thank you both very much, most interesting.

As for the word “بادکشی”, it literally means “wind pulling”, doesn't it? But is the wind doing the pulling or is it being pulled, and why?


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## searcher123

seitt said:


> (...)As for the word “بادکشی”, it literally means “wind pulling”, doesn't it? But is the wind doing the pulling or is it being pulled, and why?


You are welcome my dear friend. I was thinking I have described it in my first answer! Didn't I?


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## seitt

Ah, yes, thanks for the reminder. So it’s actually the lack of wind pulling the blood out of the skin, is it?


> So a huge amount of blood will be flowed to this place and this is the secret of the healing.


By ‘this place’, I take it you mean the cup, i.e. the blood flows out through the scratches into the cup?

Btw, wouldn't leeches (زالو) do the same job without the need to cut the skin?


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## searcher123

seitt said:


> (...)So it’s actually the lack of wind pulling the blood out of the skin, is it?(...)


Yes, it is exactly the same. In other words, blood will be pulled out by a مكش ناشي از خلاء



seitt said:


> (...)By ‘this place’, I take it you mean the cup, i.e. the blood flows out through the scratches into the cup?(...)


You are right again: "this place" means "the place under the cup". Albeit I should mention again that just in حجامت there are scratches on the skin, not in بادكش (i.e. حجامت خشك). In بادكش, the blood will be aggregated under the skin without leaving it and after بادكش, you can see the blood as a bruise (كبودي).



seitt said:


> (...)Btw, wouldn't leeches (زالو) do the same job without the need to cut the skin?


No, it wouldn't. زالو is completely different with different usages for different diseases on different places of body. Even حجامت that is very similar with بادكش have a different effect in compare with بادكش.


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## seitt

Thank you so much for a wonderful insight into your ancient culture.

To do justice to the original Persian, perhaps it would have been better if I'd have said “retreating wind” rather than “lack of wind” – the wind retreats, as it were, and creates a vacuum (خلاء), as you say.

Ah, another question – I think I'd better ask it here as it is totally connected with our subject in every way: what do you call the cupping-glass used in جحامت and بادکش?

Āryānpur gives شاخ حجامت (are the two words connected by kasre?) under حجامت, but maybe a different word is used for a بادکش cupping glass.

Interestingly, حجامت comes from the Arabic verb حَجَمَ, which means “to bend” – perhaps the idea is one of bending/diverting the blood upwards and out of the skin into the cup.


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## Treaty

seitt said:


> Āryānpur gives شاخ حجامت (are the two words connected by kasre?) under  حجامت, but maybe a different word is used for a بادکش cupping glass.
> 
> Interestingly, حجامت comes from the Arabic verb حَجَمَ, which means “to  bend” – perhaps the idea is one of bending/diverting the blood upwards  and out of the skin into the cup.



The َArabic root حجم is normally related to "bulk" (to enlarge, get  bulky, ...). I guess it refers to the swelling of the skin under the  cup. 
For شاخِ حجامت (with kasre) see this picture.  In normal cup, the cup is first heated and then place on the skin. The  pressure of air in the cup reduces as it cools. In the horned cup the  pressure is reduced by drawing air out of its horn-like pipe (with  mouth) and then its nozzle is immediately sealed. Today, the suction is mainly done by manual or electric devices. 



seitt said:


> Ah, another question – I think I'd better ask it here as it is totally  connected with our subject in every way: what do you call the  cupping-glass used in جحامت and بادکش?



I've mainly heard of لیوان especially in modernised  versions. In older days they were called کوزه, شیشه or محجمه.


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## seitt

Much obliged - so does  شاخِ حجامت refer solely and exclusively to the horn on the cup, then? In that case the dictionary is wrong.


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## Treaty

No. شاخ is used for the whole cup which has a projected nozzle or hole on it. I guess the first شاخs were real bull horns which were hollowed for this purpose.


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## seitt

Many thanks, all clear now.


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