The Haitian NzambiBy Hayden Stewart

• The portrayal of Zombies – properly spelt nzambi) – has completely changed since the discovery of Voodoo in the early 1800.

• The Haitian culture was the major endorser of voodoo, witch doctors, and zombies.

• Since US cinema had altered the image of zombies, the origin of their existence, or lack their of, has been buried in the depths of African and Afro-American myth.

• Zombie movies nowadays represent the inescapable realities of unnatural death while presenting a grim view of the modern day apocalypse.

• Not at all related to the original nzambi

• Zombifacation was used in the Haitian culture and society as a means of punishment.

• Murderers, rapists, and other major offenders were sentenced to zombifacation as opposed to using the death penalty. This is because any form of death provoked by man is considered blasphemy.

• Zombifacation simply rendered the victim to a state similar to death. Complete paralysis, a heart and breath rate that is so low that it is unnoticeable, and the substance used is said to have a half-live of 2-3 years!

• Within each community there is there own Witch Doctor and/or “Voodoo Sorcerer”. Thus each community has it’s own specific recipe for the powder used in zombifacation.

• However, several dried and pulverized ingredients remain similar in each recipe:

1. Puffer Fish toxin (Tetrodotoxin)2. Jimson Weed (Datura stramonium)3. Marine Toad (Bufo Marinus)4. Hyla Tree Frog (Osteopilus

Dominicensis)5. The remains of a human corpse• Each ingredient has a specific effect on

the human body, all necessary for the induced effect of death upon a criminal.

• Conclusively, the stereotypical image that 1940’s American cinema had created was based on the unambiguously lethargic, half-dead appearance of those resurrected from from their “dead” state. The zombie itself.