The Power of Voodoo

Who do? You do.

Searching for the source of the word "zombie" will bring you into the terrifying world of voodoo. To provide a summarized history, I will share with you my trip to the Voodoo Temple of New Orleans, which incidentally, is where my husband proposed to me. I apologize for the quality of these images. These pictures were taken on a disposable camera. Alas, we were poor.



In the center of this photo, you can see an alligator head mounted on a body. This is a depiction of the swamp creature Rougarou. Like a zombie, he is a victim of witch doctor manipulation, and he is deathly afraid of frogs (just like me). In New Orleans, adults use Rougarou to scare their children into good behavior.

Above you will see the famous priestess Marie Laveau, the Queen of Voodoo. She has been called a witch, a sorceress, even a Satanist, but in New Orleans she is revered as a major figure in Voodoo history. She was born in 1794, the free daughter of a white planter and a Creole woman of color. Historians have little concrete evidence on the details of her career in Voodoo, but there is a wealth of folklore surrounding her life. She was a benevolent woman whose practice combined Catholicism and Voodoo. She is said to have had a pet snake named Zombi. Legends of a serpentine deity called Zombi came out of West Africa. The word also referred to the human spirit.

The brain eating monsters of Hollywood have become a very different animal from the original source of the word zombie. The original zombie folklore comes from the Congo, a product of the word "nbzambi" which refers to the soul. These legends came over to America during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In Voodoo, it is believed that a witch doctor can control the body a recently deceased individual, literally raising the dead. Sometimes this is done with incantations and others times, poison and an antidote are used. A person who becomes a zombie, becomes a slave to the witch doctor for all eternity. It is considered a fate worse than death.

On the other hand, in Voodoo, one can willingly yield his soul to a priestess for safe keeping. In effect, he becomes her zombie. His soul will remain under her protection until she dies.

Everybody's favorites are the dolls! We've all heard about these little effigies or as I like to call them: vengeful pin cushions. The dolls can bring the target love, happiness, luck and in some cases, despair. I keep my Voodoo doll of myself in a soft little bed, and every night I dab her lips with ice cream. See! Not all Voodoo is malicious!

The Voodoo priest had a baby python. As I handled the elegant creature, the priest told us that he had a python that was twenty feet long on his farm. One day, his pig went missing, and he found a "big ole lump" in his snake. I'm not sure how much I believe that.

Survival Tip of the Day:
If you go to New Orleans, bring a buddy.