The ingredients and preparations discussed here were collected 

 at three representative sites: the environs of Saint Marc and 

 Gona'ives in the Artibonite valley of central Haiti, and the third 

 on the Plain of Leogane, south of the capital of Port-au-Prince. 



For the Voudouist, the creation of a zombi is essentially a 

 magical act (Davis 1983) and thus prior to the preparation of each 

 poison, the participants must seek spiritual and material protec- 

 tion. While this may be a simple matter of the houngan. or 

 benevolent Voudou priest, rubbing a magical solution on each 

 individual, it can involve rather elaborate ritualistic cleansings as 

 well as the preparation of protective magic potions. At a small 

 coastal fishing village, for example, this initial stage of the elabo- 

 ration of the poison was particularly complex, as the following 

 excerpt from my journal indicates: 



'The hounf^an began by dipping a small pre-Columbian axe- 

 head, know n to the Voudouist as a pierre tonnere. into a strong 

 ammonia-based solution, and then rubbing vigorously all the par- 

 ticipants. He sprinkled a small sample of the poison in a protected 

 corner of the hut, and then handed me a robust rooster and a jar of 

 water, instructing me to pour a portion of the water down the bird's 

 throat. Moments later he took the rooster, placed it on top of the 

 poison and covered it with a hemp sack. 



*'W^ith the constant accompaniment of the sacred assofu or rattle, 

 and the chants of the members of the secret society, the houngan 

 sanctified my protection bottle. 1 named my intended victim, and 

 he whispered it to the bottle. Ihc president of the secret society, 

 meanwhile, in\erted a bottle of rum, causing it to bubble in a 

 peculiar fashion, a certain sign that the poison would successfully 

 complete my work. A match placed into the bottle exploded into 

 flames and momentarily illuminated the entire enclosed temple. 



"The/?/i:;J/V/uY/v (see below) ground up pieces o\ caclavre ga('e {dn 

 unidentified wood of the Capparidaceae) and mixed the dust with 

 bits of a dried human cadavre and the shavings of a human tibia. 

 The president pulled four feathers from the rooster's wing and 

 instructed me to tie them in the shape of a cross as I asked them to 

 bless my proposed work. At that point, Madame Jacques (my 

 associate) accompanied the niadjaway as he took the rooster to the 

 sea in order to bathe its left foot. Upon their return to the temple, 

 ihc president threw sulphur powder into a flame as he released the 

 rooster to wander about the room. Placing seven drops of clairin 

 (crude alcohol) and seven drops of rum into a bottle, ihc president 

 began to mix the actual protection, adding sugar, basil leaves 

 {Ocinntm Basilicum L.). ground human bones, cadavre gate, and 



140 



