Haiti: The Origin of Zombism and Vodou

Just a few weeks before the earthquake disaster, I had to prepare a presentation that addresses the theme of dictatorship and dependence in Haiti, based on the novel by René Depestre. And since that moment I began to be interested in the culture of this country, particularly the root of the voodoo tradition, and also the term "zombie".

The novel that I presented is entitled Le Mât de Cocagne (published in 1979), which tells the story of an ex-Senator Henry Postel intending to awaken the hope of people of Haiti to claim against the regime of dictator. Led by Zoochrate Zacharie, he practices the politics of zombification is to say the way to create a new kind of man without a soul but still alive.

In reality, the project of zombification was also executed by the former President of Haiti, François Duvalier, known as "homo-papadocus" during the 50-70's to protect the population of pure black people. So here I now understand that the word zombie is unlike what I recaall in the video clip of "Thriller" by Michael Jackson:). Depestre himself stated in his other novels Hadriana dans tous mes rêves (1988), which means a person whose metabolism is slowed by the effects of a poison under the statement of a medical examiner and shows all the appearances of death.

Duvalier was to establish the "black power", by  applying the concept and the ideology of Négritude. His regime has also caused Depestre to be isolated in a guarded residence in Port-au-Prince, the same way as Zoochrate Zacharia imposed Postel, which has the mixed skin colour. So here I learned that the practice of racism was not only applied in South Africa, but the difference and what is interesting is that in Haiti, the regime of Duvalier had defended the pure black color.

The zombisme is basically connected to the voodoo cult, which belongs to the religious tradition of the Haitian people and spreaded from the time when African slaves were deported to the American colonies, particularly on the island of Domingo ( which is now Haiti). They mixed their religious traditions and magic to keep their own culture with the Christian religion imposed by colonialism.

In the novel, the use of voodoo is very apparent to achieve their goals, as Postel to win the game "greasy pole", and Zacharie to extinguish his counterpart. Voodoo is a hallmark in the story not only for the reason that it is the most interesting part of the novel, but also to show that the Haitian people depends on it very much, as is already rooted in their culture. This makes me recall also the culture of my country of origin, especially in remote areas such as Toraja, Bali, Papua, where there is the practice of magic, mystics, mixing religious tradition.

There is also another similarity to do with my culture of origin, compared to the Greasy Pole Game told in the novel. At first, I never thought the greasy pole existed in other countries because I thought it was a popular game long rooted in my culture since even before our independence in 1945. But after I did a little research, it is clear that even in Paris this attraction appeared for the first time in 1425.

I never thought either that there is a hidden symbolism behind this game, but from my study of this novel I began to see the game in the sense of fictional as well as real one, either in Haiti or in my country, that is the game is made to forget, or rather say to "manipulate" the people of their sufferings: poverty, idleness, ignorance.

In addition, the game of greasy pole represented in the novel reveals the erection of vertical black power. Well, perhaps in this case, it is also the same way as the greasy pole in my country ... was (or is?) to enhance the hegemony of the regime or anyone who controlled the power. Anyway, I think that without this game, the Independence Day in Indonesia would lose its character;). And in any case, the field of Francophone rliterature began to provoke my curiosity :).

This article is also written by me in French, please have a look: Le Zombisme et Le Vaudou en Haïti

* Photo:

Haitian Voodoo: jacques.prevost.free.fr

game of the greasy pole: jeuxpicards.org