ZombieWiki
Zombie Wiki / Tous les zombies / Folklore et mythes
Dossier n° 048 sur 446

Zombi (Haitian)

Aussi appelé: zonbi, zombie, zombi corps cadavre
Folklore et mythesMort-vivantTraîne la patteSorcellerie1500 à 1899

The zombi of Haitian folklore is a dead or seemingly dead person taken from the grave by a sorcerer and kept as a slave without will. The word comes from Central African languages, and the belief was shaped by the plantation slavery of colonial Haiti, where death was supposed to be the one escape from forced labour. Researchers have proposed drugs, mental illness and mistaken identity to explain reported cases, and none of these accounts is settled. This figure, a body that works and obeys but is no longer a person, is the origin of the word and the concept behind every later zombie.12

⚔️ L'affronter
Première mention
1750
The word is first recorded in English in the 18th century; the belief took shape in colonial Saint-Domingue under slavery
Origine
Haitian (Vodou folklore)
Haïti
Ce qui le provoque
Sorcellerie
A sorcerer (bokor) either raises a buried body by necromancy or captures the part of the soul that carries will and memory, leaving a controllable shell.
Comment on en devient un
A bokor makes the victim appear to die, takes the body from the grave at night and holds its ti bon anj, the seat of will and personality.
Comment il se déplace
Traîne la patte
Described as walking in a shambling, detached way with the head lowered and a fixed stare.
Intelligence
Sans cervelle
Points faibles
  • salt or salt water, which is said to wake it or release it
  • preventive burial: laying the corpse face down, filling the mouth with earth or sewing the lips shut
  • sesame seeds scattered on the grave to keep the spirit counting

Quand est-il apparu pour la première fois ?

Monde antique
Moyen Âge
1500 à 1899
1900 à 1967
1968 à 1999
2000 à 2009
2010 à aujourd'hui
1750

The word is first recorded in English in the 18th century; the belief took shape in colonial Saint-Domingue under slavery

notes de terrain

Ce que disent les sources

1

It has no will, memory or emotion and exists to work: in fields, or hired out to others12

2

Vodou priests (houngan and mambo) are held to oppose the bokor, who 'serves with both hands'12

3

A second kind, the zombi astral, is a captured soul without a body, kept in a bottle12

4

Haitians recognise a zombi by its nasal voice, fixed stare, lowered head and repetitive, purposeless movements12

5

The tradition expresses a fear of becoming a zombi, a slave even after death, more than a fear of zombis themselves12

6

William Seabrook's The Magic Island (1929) carried the idea to American readers and influenced the film White Zombie (1932)12

Pourriez-vous le distancer ?

Classe de vitesse d'après la description des sources (traîne la patte), pas une mesure.

Zombi (Haitian) environ 3 km/h
Vous, en marchant environ 5 km/h
Vous, en jogging environ 10 km/h
Un adulte en forme qui sprinte environ 24 km/h
Un cycliste rapide environ 37 km/h

Sources

  1. Zombie - Wikipedia
  2. Zombies - Encyclopedia.com

Chaque fait de cette page provient de ces sources, reformulé dans nos propres mots. Une erreur ? Écrivez-nous à hello@zombiewiki.app.

Du folklore des mêmes contrées

Clairvius NarcisseHaitian, 1980Felicia Felix-MentorHaitian, 1937The Lancet zombi cases (FI, WD and MM)Haitian, 1997

Même époque : 1500 à 1899

JiangshiChinese, 1789StrigoiRomanian, 1714Vampir (South Slavic)South Slavic (Serbian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Bosnian), 1725AbhartachIrish, 1870Arnold PaoleSerbian, 1732ChurelSouth Asian, 1880