Bokor
A bokor (male) (
loa, "'with both hands', practicing for both good and evil."[1][2] Their practice includes the creation of zombies and of ouangas (talismans that house spirits).[3][4]
The term bokor can also refer to the leader of the Makaya division of Vodou, which originated in the Congo region. It is believed that there is a grand master for all bokors that have ever lived who can be reborn in every century.
Description
Bokors, featured in many Haitian tales, are often associated with the creation of
mind controlled. The person is alive but in a state where they cannot control what they say or do; at this point, when the person has been reanimated from the grave, or at least is moving about working for the bokor, they can be termed zombies. However, some legends dispense with this explanation, and have the bokor raise zombies from dead bodies whose souls have departed.[4]
Also, bokors are said to work with zombie astrals – souls or spirits which are captured in a
Legba and Simbi (snake loa), and in some cases they are said to work with Grand Bois
, the loa of the forest.
Bokors are similar to the
houngan.[3]
See also
- Abakuá, an Afro-Cuban religion whose name possibly shares the same etymology
- Clairvius Narcisse, a Haitian alleged to have been kept in a zombie-like state by a bokor
References
- ISBN 978-0814722343.
- ISBN 978-0810875494.
- ^ a b "Zombies". Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. Retrieved 15 June 2008.
- ^ .
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