Haitian Culture Research Paper

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One of the most fascinating practices in Haitian culture includes the process of zombification, which revives the recently dead into mindless, soulless zombies. The process of zombification is quite complex and requires the special assistance of what the Haitians call, the bokors. It is believed that only the bokors, whom are Haitian voodoo sorcerers, have the power to create and control a zombie. Each bokor will have their own unique way in performing the practice, as exact methods and processes will obviously vary. A common practice involves the use of a carefully prepared mixture pronounced as the “Coup De Poudre”. When translated into English, this mixture is called the “Powder Strike”, which is made up of several components including mystical herbs, human remains, and also animal parts. The many ways of…show more content…
Davis interviewed a number of bokors and collected exactly 8 samples of the powder strike from 4 different regions of the country. Upon a thorough analysis of each powder, Davis found that 7 of them shared a number of ingredients, including toxins produced by cane toad and an irritant produced by a hyla tree frog. One of the samples also contained tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin produced by various marine organisms, in the liver and ovaries of some species of puffer fish. Davis believed that the main ingredient of the coup de poudre was tetrodotoxin, ingestion of which usually causes death by paralysis. In sub-lethal doses, however, it causes a significant reduction in heart rate and puts one into a state in which they are completely paralyzed yet fully conscious. The irritant contained in the powder causes small wounds on the skin surface, through which the tetrodotoxin then enters the bloodstream. The victim of this act is pronounced dead and buried

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