What do zombies symbolize?

In American culture, specifically within the medium of film, the zombie represents severeal different “fears.” Zombies of the Haitian Voodoo variety represent a loss of cognition/ consciousness and also a loss of free will.

What is the story behind zombies?

Origin of Zombies Zombie folklore has been around for centuries in Haiti, possibly originating in the 17th century when West African slaves were brought in to work on Haiti’s sugar cane plantations. According to some reports, the life—or rather afterlife—of a zombie represented the horrific plight of slavery.

What is the African word for zombie?

zombi
The term zombie or zombi originally also referred to a snake-god in the voodoo religion of West Africa. When these peoples were taken as slaves to Haiti and other parts of the Caribbean during the 18th and early 19th centuries, they brought their religious beliefs and practices with them.

What does the term zombie mean?

Definition of zombie 1a : a will-less and speechless human (as in voodoo belief and in fictional stories) held to have died and been supernaturally reanimated. b : the supernatural power that according to voodoo belief may enter into and reanimate a dead body.

What is the history of zombies in Haiti?

The history of zombies in Haiti has an African origin. As noted, the word zombie goes back to West Africa, as does the religion of Voodoo. However, the West African zombie did not have a body; it was formless. In some South African countries they believed in physical zombies with bodies.

What is the origin of the African word for Zombie?

A frican scholars who deign to seriously discuss such topic as the zombie, say the word comes from the Kongo word for “soul”, nzambi. When slaves were brought to Haiti and the Vodou religion grew amidst old African traditions and the harsh conditions of slavery, the idea of the zonbi was born.

Where did ideas about zombies come from?

Ideas about zombies and the practice of voodoo migrated throughout the world with the slave trade. In just one example, the French ruled Haiti from 1625 to 1804, and they established sugar plantations. Thus, they imported slaves from Africa to operate the plantations, and those slaves brought their folklore and beliefs with them.

What is a Haitian Zonbi?

When slaves were brought to Haiti and the Vodou religion grew amidst old African traditions and the harsh conditions of slavery, the idea of the zonbi was born. Zombies are found on the fringes of the Vodou religion, not in the everyday praising of the gods. I t is estimated that 80-90\% of Haitians “serve the spirits” or practice Vodou.