The history of zombies

The history of zombies

Zombies are everywhere these days – on television, in movies and in books. The current image of the terrifying flesh-eating zombie comes from George Romero’s 1968 classic film Night of the Living Dead. Nowadays many people like to frighten themselves with the idea of the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’, and enjoy learning how to destroy zombies by decapitation or shooting them in the head.

However zombies are not new. The term, from the Kongo word nzambi which means ‘spirit of a dead person’, has been long associated with the Vodou religion of Haiti (popularly known as Voodoo). As with West African Vodun, from which it is descended, Vodou has strong ties to the supernatural and magic practised by witch doctors called bokors.

In Haitian culture zombies are not evil creatures but victims. They are said to be people who have been killed by poisoning, then reanimated and controlled by bokors with magic potions for some specific purpose, usually to work as slave labour. The bokors were widely feared and respected. It is said that they used to be in the service of the secret police and those who defied the authorities were threatened with being turned into the living dead. For a long time most people assumed that zombies were nothing more than mythical figures, like werewolves and vampires.

True or False. Read the sentences below and circle T(true) or F(false)

1. 
   The current image of zombie comes from George Romero’s 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead false
   
2. 
   Zombies are not new true
   
3. 
   The term ‘zombie’ means spirit of a dead person true
   
4. 
   The term ‘zombie’ has been long associated with the Vodou religion of Kongo false
   
5. 
   G. Romero frightened people with the idea of the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ not given
   

Multiple choice. Choose the correct answer for each question.

6. 
   The word ‘nzambi’ comes from
   

1. 
   Haiti word
   
2. 
   Voodoo word
   
3. 
   Kongo word
   
4. 
   West Afrcan word
   

7. 
   Find the false statement
   

1. 
   The bokors were wild and frightening
   
2. 
   In Haitian zombies are victims
   
3. 
   In Haitian culture zombies were people who have been killed and reanimated
   
4. 
   People were killed by poisoning before being reanimate
   

8. 
   In the 6^th line the word ‘them’ refers to
   

1. 
   People
   
2. 
   Zombies
   
3. 
   Slave labours
   
4. 
   Haitian voodoos
   

9. 
   What happened with those who defied the authorities
   

1. 
   They were turned into the living dead
   
2. 
   They were turned into slave labours
   
3. 
   They have been killed by poisoning
   
4. 
   They were threatened with being turned into the living dead
   

10. 
    Which paragraph mentioned about bokors?
    

1. 
   5
   
2. 
   3
   
3. 
   4
   
4. 
   2
   

Match the words in the cloud with their definitions.

Decapitation, spirit, poison, portion, werewolf

11. 
    Poison a harmful substance
    
12. 
    Werewolf a wolflike human
    
13. 
    Decapitation the act of beheading
    
14. 
    Portion an allocated amount
    
15. 
    Spirit the undying essence of a human
    

Choose the correct word of family member from the list below to complete each statement.

Haitian culture says that the living dead were victims but not evil 16_____. The movie Night of the Living Dead depicted the 17_____ flesh-eating zombies. It is assumed that zombies were only 18_____ figures, like werewolves. Zombies were controlled by bokors for19_____ purposes. Those who defied the 20_____ were threatened with being turned into a living dead.

16. 
    creations creatures creators
    
17. 
    terrifying terrible terroristic
    
18. 
    myth mythological mythical
    
19. 
    specific special spicy
    
20. 
    authorial authors authorities