In the Peruvian Andes, from ancient time to today, our various gods, such as the sun, water, air, fire, lightning, rainbow, etc., have helped us have a good life with pure hearts and calm souls about all that we did.
The sun would fill all peoples with energy and heat. They could be happy to have sun, but the celestial orb also had its other side. It could punish them by sending droughts so that no food would grow.
Lightning was in charge of bringing supernatural powers to people it would touch. If that person had bitterness, though, or worries it would kill him or her.
The wind could also punish people by giving them an intense headache to teach them a lesson. It could also twist their face, that is to say it could paralyze their face. People say that when you go out very early, such as between 3 and 6 in the morning, and with an irritated mood you can easily get mal viento, bad or evil wind. Sometimes you will have an unsupportable headache that you cannot even calm with pills. That is because you got viento, wind, people say.
There are remedies for bad wind. One of those is a plant called rue. It has a strong scent and people rub it over the face and head before burning it. When it comes in contact with flame, people say that if wind is the cause of your ailment the plant will sound as if small balls were exploding. Afterwards, if you rest, you will notice the headache gone. You are cured of what the bad wind did to you.
In the other case, that of facial paralysis, it is necessary to rub rue on your head and face and then massage your face so that it recovers its mobility. In other cases it is good to go to the healers, the curanderos, since they have knowledge of other plants and other cures for the ailment.
