Saturday, July 20, 2013

Wondering about zombies.

Some mornings I feel like a zombie, I think.  But really, I am not sure what a zombie feels like.  If they are really the walking dead, then maybe they don't "feel" at all.  Have any of you ever met a zombie?  I never have and am not sure if I want to, no matter how much I wonder about them!!  So, what is a zombie?  Are they really real?  I will try to answer those two questions.

From my Dictionary of World Folklore: "A zombie is a human whose soul is stolen by black magic and thus becomes lifeless and is buried.  His murderer then exhumes the body and gains a useful slave with no will except that of its master, which he imposes on it."  There are other definitions but this is the most popular.  That answers the first question.

The answer to the second question, are they really real, is not so straight forward.  I guess the answer is "maybe".  My folklore book goes on to say, "It is thought that voodoo priests may actually perform such an operation, effectively at least, by giving their victims a strong poison which results in a death-like coma.  The 'corpse' is exhumed some hours after the burial, before he or she can suffocate and when the effects of the poison wear off may be given a hallucinogenic plant to eat before being used for slave labour."  So you decide for yourselves if they are real or not.  So, don't be a zombie today and try to have a great day, its the start of the weekend you know.

9 comments:

  1. I'm not feeling all that great this morning, but dang, I don't want to feel like a zombie! I have always thought that whatever is told in mythology has some reason for telling it. The true facts might be garbled, but there is a basis for the story. Usually.

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    1. I agree. Even American Indian folk lore have a lot of truth hidden in them as all the old stories do. It would be great to know what was behind all the stories told around camp fires.

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  2. I act like a zombie before coffee . . .

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  3. Zombies, voodoo, seers, black magic.... guess I don't think about it all very often... still trying to figure out real life ;-)

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  4. Sixbears, coffee is a great zombie killer.

    The Odd Essay, I am with you but I just couldn't think of any good subject to blog about so started at the end of alphabet, you know, Z.

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  5. I know a lot of people that act like zombies whether they really are or not.

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    1. I guess if you train them to do all your work, it would be OK.

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  6. If you google Zombies, you'll find a case from a few years ago of a zombie in Haiti. Pretty strange!

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    1. Haiti is not on my list of places to see (grin). Anyway, I don't have a pass port and don't plan on getting one.

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