Talk:Suangi

Untitled
"If a victim is able to name the suangi that has attacked him, they are often killed and eaten by the victim's family in the belief that it will free the person's spirit."

This statement is ambiguous. Is the intention to say that the victim's family kills and eats the victim or kills and eats the suangi?

Tbarron (talk) 01:00, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps both options are possible, but the latter seems more common. By the way, also women can be suangis, at least amongst the cultures that I am familiar with (Waropen and vicinity). --62.216.22.3 (talk) 09:48, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

"Zombified"
What does "zombified" imply here? Zombies are an element of a folkloristic cosmos that is geographically far removed from the West Papuans. Zombies are reanimated dead who possess no own will and will obediently follow the orders of the one who raised them. Presumably, this means the Suangi somehow reanimates its victims after they pass away due to the loss of internal organs, but other aspects of "zombie-ism" are absent - the victim is able to return home, followed by a period of illness, and can apparently even communicate the identity of the attacker. Zombies are physically healthy (able to work tirelessly on sugarcane fields), but have no ability to communicate or return home. Surely, the modern-day popular fiction interpretation of the zombie is not referred here either. -- Ciaraleone (talk) 21:51, 24 December 2013 (UTC)