An ancient Angolan zombie: "Juca, a matumbola", by Ernesto Marecos

Abstract

This paper examines the narrative poem Juca, a matumbola, published in 1865. The author of the text was Ernesto Marecos (1836-1879), a Portuguese writer of the Romantic period, who lived and worked in Angola at least between 1856 and 1857. The poem deals with the phenomenon of matumbolas, similar to that of zombies, widely diffused in Haitian folklore. The source for Marecos'poem was an account published in 1859 in the Boletim official do Governo Geral da Provincia d'Angola, written by someone who, like him, was an official of the Portuguese colonial government. Besides studying the poem and comparing it with its probable source, I will also refer to other occurrences of the theme in modern Angolan literature.