Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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Songs:
- Blind Boy Fuller (Fulton Allen)
- Memphis Minnie (Lizzie Douglas)
-Yas-- Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker)
Z O M BI E, JUJU Z O M BI E, Z U V E M BI E
Z
Some people think they jive me but I know they must be crazy
Je suie le grand zombie (I am the grand zombie)
The Grand Zombie (or Zombi) is another name for the Great Snake Damballah, the
serpent who represents the supreme creator in the Vodou religion (see also Voodoo).
Marie Laveau became the leader of New Orleans Vodou practitioners in 1820 when she
was elected as the human representative of the Grand Zombie. Laveau was extremely
intelligent and insightful, and was widely believed to be clairvoyant. She kept a python
named Zombi, and danced with it on her shoulders during the ceremonies over which
she presided.
The goal of Vodou ceremonies is possession by the divine. Practitioners seek to become
possessed by loa, ancestral spirit-gods who rule over earthly matters. In the Tshiluba
language- which is a member of the Bantu branch of Niger-Congo languages- the word
nzambi means God, and mujangi means the spirit of an ancestor. In addition to the
Tshiluba nzambi, there is nzumbi, from the Kimbundu of Northern Angola, which means
a ghost or a supernatural force that can bring a corpse back to life. 380
The Vodou practitioner seeks the holy experience of union with nzambi, or God. The
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conceivably do it for a more evil reason. This is where the concept of a controllable dead
or comatose person- the zombie of Hollywood movies- originated.
There are two types of zombies: the common zombie and the more dangerous juju
been rendered comatose by a finely ground dust of poisonous powder that is blown into
their nostrils or touches their skin. Depending on locale, the powder may include the
gland secretions of the bouga toad, tarantula venom, the dried and powdered skins of
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