Concept in Definition ABC

A zombie is a dead man who has come back to life. As is logical and evident, zombies do not exist but are part of a tradition culture based on supernatural beliefs. The belief in zombies it must be framed in the Haitian popular tradition.

The origin of the zombies in the Haitian tradition

The population Haiti has a high percentage of descendants of slaves. Keep in mind that the French colonized this territory at the end of the seventeenth century and imposed a economy based on the labor of slaves that were brought from West Africa. These settlers incorporated their own beliefs and rituals and especially the religious tradition of Voodoo. According to voodoo, a sorcerer (in Haiti he is called hungán) knows the ritual so that a dead person can return to life and become a zombie. The figure of the zombie has a direct relationship with slavery, since it is considered that the dead person who returns to be among the living is a kind of slave in the service of someone.

The zombie in the Haitian tradition is a kind of sleepwalker and the people who believe in them consider that the supernatural forces of the beyond have allowed the dead to meet again with the living.

From Haitian Voodoo Beliefs to Global Culture

European pirates and corsairs of the seventeenth and eighteenth century came into contact with the Haitian population and learned of the stories they told about zombies. From this circumstance the myth of the zombie was nurtured. In the collective imagination, an idea of ​​these subhuman beings has been built, who lack a soul and wander at night with their sinister appearance.

This terrifying vision of the zombie became a very attractive element for the literature, the comic and the movie theater horror (in a very special way the fantasy of an invasion of zombies and how humanity should deal with them is used). Today, a zombie is a very suitable character for a carnival costume, for a attraction fair or for a video game. In another sense, the term zombie also refers to a type of computer virus.

The word zombie has been incorporated into most languages ​​and can be used in various senses. Thus, saying that someone "looks like a zombie" indicates that he looks bad or if someone says "today I woke up a zombie" is saying that he is not fully awake.

The Solanum virus, a possible scientific explanation for the zombie phenomenon

The Solanum virus can cause a false death. In this way, when someone has this virus, their bodily functions stop working. However, the person is not dead but appears so. In fact, his brain continues to function at the same time that the virus damages his body. When the Solanum virus stops working, the body returns to normal. Obviously, whoever observes that someone has returned to life can consider it a paranormal phenomenon and understand that the dead person has returned to life. Thus, the effect of this virus would provide an explanation for something rationally inexplicable, the existence of zombies.

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