A bokor (male) ( ht, bòkò) or caplata (female) is a
Vodou witch
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...
for hire who is said to serve the
loa
( ), also called loa or loi, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerate ...
"with both hands", practicing for both good and evil.
Their practice includes the creation of
zombie
A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...
s and of 'ouangas', talismans that house spirits.
[Zombies](_blank)
(from 'Encyclopedia of Death and Dying' website, with added references there. Accessed 2008-06-15.)[Report on Voodoo](_blank)
, from ''Self-Ascription Without Qualia: A Case-Study'' (PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
) – Chalmers, David J.; Department of Philosophy, University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...
The term ''bokor'' can also refer to the leader of the Makaya division of Vodou, which originated in the
Congo region. It is believed that there is a grand master for all bokors that have ever lived who can be reborn in every century.
Description
Bokors, featured in many Haitian tales, are often associated with the creation of "zombies" by the use of a deadening brew or
potion, usually containing
poison
Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...
extracted from
puffer fish (
tetrodotoxin
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin. Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an order that includes pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish; several of these species carry the toxin. Although tetrodotoxin was discovered ...
). This potion induces the drinker to appear as though they were dead; thus they are often buried. Later, the bokor would return for the "corpse" and force it to do his bidding, such as manual labor. The "corpse" is often given
deliriant drugs, mainly
datura stramonium, where they enter a detached, somewhat dreamlike state. Its state is likened to being
mind controlled. The person is alive but in a state where they cannot control what they say or do; at this point, when the person has been "reanimated" from the grave, or at least is moving about working for the bokor, they can be termed "zombies." However, some legends dispense with this explanation, and have the bokor raise zombies from dead bodies whose souls have departed.
Also, bokors are said to work with zombie astrals – souls or spirits which are captured in a
fetish and made to enhance the Bokor's power.
Bokors normally work with the Loas
Baron Samedi,
Kalfu
Kalfu (literally ''crossroads)'' is one of the petro aspects of Papa Legba, a lwa in Haitian Vodou. He is often envisioned as a young man or as a demon; his color is red and he favors rum infused with gunpowder. He is often syncretized with Sa ...
,
Legba and
Simbi (snake loa), and in some cases they are said to work with
Grand Bois, the loa of the forest.
Bokors are similar to the "root workers" of Vodou and New Orleans voodoo. Some may be priests of a Vodou house. Bokor are usually chosen from birth, those who are believed to bear a great ashe (power). A bokor can be, by worldly terms, good or evil, though some sources consider them an evil version of a
houngan.
See also
*
Abakuá, an Afro-Cuban religion whose name possibly shares the same etymology
*
Clairvius Narcisse
Clairvius Narcisse (January 2, 1922 – 1994) was a Haitian man who claimed to have been turned into a zombie by a Haitian vodou, and forced to work as a slave.
The hypothesis for Narcisse's account was that he had been administered a combinatio ...
, a Haitian alleged to have been kept in a zombie-like state by a bokor
References
{{Afro-American Religions
Haitian Vodou