They say it came first from Africa, carried in the screams of the enslaved; that it was the death bane of the Taínos, uttered just as one world perished and another began; that it was a demon drawn into Creation through the nightmare door that was cracked open in the Antilles.
Fukú americanus, or more colloquially; fukú—generally a curse or a doom of some kind; specifically the Curse and the Doom of the New World…
…anytime a fukú reared its many heads there was only one way to prevent disaster from coiling around you, only one surefire counter spell that would keep you and your family safe.
Not surprisingly, it was a word. A simple word...
ZAFA.