A jumbee or jumbie, also known as mendo or chongo in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, is a type of mythological spirit or

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

in the

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

of some

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

countries. "Jumbee" can be a generic name given to all malevolent entities. There are numerous kinds of jumbees, reflecting the Caribbean's complex history and ethnic makeup, drawing on African, Amerindian, East Indian, Dutch, English, and even Chinese

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

. Different cultures have different concepts of jumbees, but the general idea is that people who have been evil are destined to become instruments of evil (jumbees) in death. Unlike the ghost folklore which represents a wispy fog-like entity, the jumbee is cast as a dark, shadowy figure.

Regional

People in English-speaking Caribbean states that were colonized by the British commonly believe in this creature. The belief is also held by practitioners of

Obeah Obeah, also spelled Obiya or Obia, is a broad term for African diaspora religions, African diasporic religious, Magic (supernatural), spell-casting, and healing traditions found primarily in the British West Indies, former British colonies of th ...

, a form of mystical wizardry that encompasses traditional African beliefs and Western European, primarily Anglican, images and beliefs concerning the dead.

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, and various islands—including

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

and

Barbuda Barbuda (; ) is an island and dependency located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda as an autonomous entity. Barbuda is located approximately north of Antigua. The only settlements on the i ...

in the east,

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

in the north and as far south as

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

—have long held a tradition of folklore that includes the jumbee. In the French islands

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

and

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

, people speak of " zombi" rather than "jumbie" to describe ghosts, revenants, and other supernatural creatures. The Étang Zombi in Guadeloupe owes its name to the legend of the wife of a slaver who was killed by her husband for trying to free his slaves and now haunts the pond. The people of the Congo speak of a ''nfumbi'' — ancestral ghost — which could be related to the word "jumbie."

British Virgin Islands and United States Virgin Islands

A Mocko Jumbie is a cultural stilt-dancer from the BVI and USVI, often seen in

Caribbean Carnival Caribbean Carnival is the cultural celebration held annually throughout the year in many Caribbean islands and worldwide. It's a highly anticipated festival in the Caribbean where locals and visitors come together to dance, savor cultural music, ...

parades. The name combines the elements of "jumbie" — a spiritual entity - and "Moko" — a tall, watchful deity who guards, heals, and delivers retribution.

The Bahamas

As Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons captured in a 1918 transcription of an old Bahamian story, the jumbee in Jamaica is often called a "sprit": "Dese sprits which you call witch people, dey lives in de air."

Jamaica and Barbados

In Jamaica and Barbados, the old Akan word "

duppy Duppy is a word of African origin commonly used in various Caribbean Islands, including The Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica, meaning ghost or spirit.

Montserrat

In the folk religion of

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

, a jumbie is a ghost, or spirit of the dead. Jumbies are said to possess people during ceremonies called jumbie dances, which are accompanied by jumbie drums. Four couples perform a set of five progressively quicker

quadrille The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''Contra dance, contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of ope ...

s during the jumbie dance, switching out with other couples until someone is eventually possessed by a jumbie. Jumbies receive numerous small offerings from Montserratians, such as a few drops of

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...

or food. They are also the subject of numerous superstitions. It is believed that the spirit separates from the body three days after death, at which point the havoc begins. Jumbies are believed to have the ability to shape-shift, usually taking the form of a dog, pig, or more likely, a cat.

Characteristics

There are many recommended ways to avoid or escape jumbie encounters: * If a pair of shoes is left outside the front door of a house, jumbies (who have either no feet at all, or backwards feet) will spend the entire night trying and failing to put on the shoes, rather than entering the house. * Jumbies are similarly distracted by a heap of sand or salt or rice outside a door, since their obsessive curiosity (particularly in the case of the Firerass, or ole Higue) compels them to count every grain before the sun rises. Likewise, a rope with many knots in it will keep a jumbie busy trying to undo them until sunrise. * Upon coming home late at night, walking backwards may prevent a jumbee from following one inside. * If a jumbee chases a person, crossing a river may stop them; since it is believed that jumbees, like their relatives in numerous cultures, cannot follow over water.

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , title=Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume Two: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean , author=Messenger, John , chapter=Montserrat , page
922–926
, isbn=0-8153-1865-0 , year=1999 , publisher=Routledge , chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/garlandencyclope0001unse/page/922 *

ink broken Guyanese folklore Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thicke ...

at Guyana Outpost * Hochschild, Adam. ''King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa''. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin (1998, p. 15). Caribbean legendary creatures Native American demons Culture of Guyana Culture of Montserrat Culture of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago folklore