By: Amots Dafni and Saleh Akel Khativ
The most common substance in the 20th century for keeping away household insects was called naphthalene (produced from the distillation of tar), and was found in every tidy mother's wardrobe. Later it turned out that naphthalene was considered a carcinogen and was removed from both domestic use and scientific use for the purposes of preserving plant and insect collections in research institutions. Among pollinators they used to joke and say that pollinators (who preserve both plants and insects) live a long time because "the mothball preserves them".
In the Arab village and among the Bedouins in Israel, it is customary to place plants with a strong aroma between the clothes both to give a good smell and to keep moths away. These plants are myrtle, white sedum, medicinal rosemary, scalped thyme, noble gorse, mint, pungent calendula, pink sedum, triple sage, and hot pepper. In Europe it is accepted for this purpose to use lavender (lavender). These plants are aromatic and contain essential oils that evaporate over time. These substances (in all the different plants mentioned!) have been scientifically proven to repel insects.
Another plant is the unripe watermelon, which is used for this purpose both in Egypt and Israel. According to the testimony recorded in Aswan: "Since the days of the pharaohs, fruits of the ripe watermelon have been placed, with a narrow opening in them to keep insects away from the clothes." The fruit actually serves as a trap for insects, and the poison inside the dry fruit ensures their death. "To get rid of the mosquitoes, we boiled mint, waited until it cooled and passed it through a cloth to clean all the residue. Then we sprayed the house with this water, and that's how we got rid of the mosquitoes and got a refreshing smell."
To kill them you will take a myrtle tree
Many insects, especially flies, mosquitoes and bedbugs, disturb a person's rest, even inside his home, and may even spread diseases. Rabbi Raphael Ohana, who lived in the 19th century in Tiberias and wrote a book called "The View of the Children", which deals with virtues and various healing methods, states: "To kill them (the fleas) take a myrtle tree and anoint it with the milk of white goats and place it in the house for two hours and they will die with God's help ". The study did show that myrtle oil repels fleas, and the researchers recommend including myrtle oil in preparations designed to repel fleas. In this regard, mention should be made of the plant called Pulicaria dysenterica. The origin of the scientific name of the genus Pulicaria is the Latin word Pulex, which means "flea", since in the past they used to
use the smoke produced from the plant or a wreath hung in the house to keep fleas away.
In the Western Galilee, we recorded from informants that sticky tin branches are placed under the mattress to prevent the appearance of unwanted insects. In villages in Cyprus, there is widespread use of tin to keep pests away, and it is customary there to beat the mattresses with bundles of fresh leaves. An effective way to fight house pests is to apply fresh thyme stalks to the lintels.
In Arab villages in Israel, green sycamore branches are placed in buildings where animals are raised to keep pests away. Already in ancient Greece, Theophrastus pointed out that a sticky plaster has a vigorous action against insects - to teach us that there is nothing new under the sun. Ephraim the Reuben writes: "It will happen that bedbugs will be found in the walls of the house and there is no need to get rid of them. What will they do? They will take the batzul (the stone), rub it nicely on the places on the wall where the bedbugs are there, and the bedbugs will die."
Later, the author repeats the same story and adds: "The use of bedbugs in horseradish is also accepted in Italy. There they make a powder against bedbugs from the onions of horseradish." In western Spain, it is customary to place onion bulbs under the bed to keep fleas away. Modern research shows that there are various substances active against a variety of harmful insects in the onions.
The pygmy is used, in Israel and throughout the Mediterranean Sea, to destroy lice, and is known in Spain as "lice grass". According to Arabic literature, a kharhabina is hung above the door frame of the entrance to the house to keep the flies away. To keep flies away, you can stick a few bunches of cloves in half a lemon and put them in the house. Immediately all the flies will flee. Myrtle will also keep flies away. The Reuveni tells about a unique way to keep flies away using a hairy repellent: "In order to make the blow of flies a little easier on them in their tents and homes, they will use a hairy repellent.
Dip the plant in sugar water, and since the leaves of the plant are small, numerous and dense, as well as the flowers are small and numerous and dense, there is a place to hold in one dense bush for a huge crowd of flies. The flies come and settle on the bush planted in the house because of the sugar juice on it, and at night they come and wrap the bush in a dress or an abaya and take all the flies out of the bush."