A to Z Blog Challenge.... "V" for Voodoo and Zombi ( we spell it Zombies)

 

 According to the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, Zombies come from the Congo. They also believe that there are actually four types of zombi (we spell it zombie) - the Great Spirit, the Spiritual Soul, the Herbal Zombi and the Bargained Zombi.

The creole word  ''zombi" is apparently derived from Nzambi, a West African deity but it only came into general use in 1929, after the publication of William B. Seabrook's  "The Magic Island". Here is a recount of his first encounter with the walking dead. 

"The eyes were the worst. It was not my imagination. They were in truth like the eyes of a dead man, not blind, but staring, unfocused, unseeing. The whole face, for that matter, was bad enough. It was vacant, as if there was nothing behind it. It seemed not only expressionless, but incapable of expression."

Four types of voodoo zombi's:

Spiritual Soul: this follows in the belief that a person has two souls, one called the Great  Angle and the Little Angle. When a person dies, the Great Angle  knows the person is dead and leaves the body. The Little Angle, on the other hand, takes about three days to realize the body is dead and a witchdoctor can manipulate it to do their bidding.

Herbal Zombi:  To make a zombie chemically it is first necessary to cause the victim to appear to die, then to apply an chemical antidote to reanimate them. The poison would usually come from the common Blowfish. 

Bargained Zombi:  A volunteer who has surrendered part of their soul to a Voodoo Queen for reasons like protection against other spirits or receiving gifts. It is when the Voodoo Queen dies and can not longer protect this person that the may turn into a full-fledged zombie.

Li Grande Zombi: this is the snake spirit in Voodoo given the Congolese name for the same principal entity. It is the original and proper meaning. The Louisiana mud snake used in rituals is sometimes called “ouncongo”.