Jamu Java

(dedicated to Ms. Hélène Mercier, a great pianist) “Jamu, Madame, Sir! ” gently how a slim young woman from door to door of bottles tied up on her back neighborhood every morning carrying a heavy basketful greets her clients offering a glass of freshly prepared herbal medicine, jamu mixed with raw egg and honey wearing beautifully Javanese traditional dress called kebaya and batik sarong selling traditional Indonesian herbal medicine ginger wild ginger turmeric greater galingale kumis kucing bengle secang brotowali calamondin cinnamon alang-alang used to treat a wide variety of ailments ranging from fatigue and headache to malaria supplies the body with vitamin C keeps the body in good shape and makes the skin smooth cleanses the blood maintains physical fitness and health treats various kinds of illness for babies is also available usually in oil form during the pre and post-natal periods to maintain natural beauty of women the herbal cosmetics for pregnant women for women in their post-natal period is usually a combination of massage the body wraps and tonics to help them regain their figures and eliminate stretch marks to be always in a perfect condition is of prime importance to maintain the body Ngadi Sarira bedak dingin a cool powder made from tendered rice lulur bathing powder for scrubbing a hair oil called cemceman with special ingredients such as made of coconut oil with pandanus the kenanga flower, and the jeruk purut Zingiber officinale Curcuma cautkeridza Curcuma domestica Kaempferia galanga Orthosiphon aristatus Zingiber bevifalium Caesalpinia sappan hinn Tiospora rumpii boerl Citrae aurantifalia sivingle Gijeyzahyza glabra Gramineae nature is deeply rooted in the life of the people culturally, socially economically from leaves fruits, roots, seeds flowers or tree barks since the ancient times widely used to give inner-complete beauty which is thought to result from good physical health from the poor to the rich those who live in villages those who live in large cities from every class of the society “Jamu, Madame, Sir! ”