Vampires: Folklore, Myth or
Legend
Myths and Legends are passed down
through generations in the form of stories and through the use of folklore. The
folkloric stories told about vampires have changed and differs slightly over
the years, but some ideas remain constant, such as eternal life and the
drinking of human blood. Looking at the different forms of story-telling,
folklorists believe that a myth is a narrative of previous generations passed
on through time, to teach future generations the history and beliefs of their
ancestors. Folktales are fictional stories that should not be perceived as a
literal and historical representation of events. Legends are stories that are
set in a world predecessing mankind and they are perceived as true. Non-folklorists use the term myth to describe
the vampires as they believe that these stories are untrue and must be
fictional, therefore there is some debate over which category the vampire fits
into. The vampire is a global archetype, so there are many differing stories of
what the Vampire looks like and the ‘powers’ the vampire possesses.
I will investigate just a few
myths from the stories that have been told about this otherworldly creature,
and see how those myths have differed and altered not only from country to
country but also from the past to the present. The myth of the vampire dates
back to the ancient orient, for example the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The
original depiction of the vampire is not a charming man or woman as today’s
society depicts, but they were monsters who fed upon the living to survive. The
Babylonians believed in the vampire as a female demon whom fed upon both
pregnant women and young babies. They called this creature ‘Lilitu’, which was
derived from ‘Lilu’- a vampire-like spirit in Babylonian demonology. Lilitu was
then adapted into Lilith, who in Jewish demonology was the first wife of Adam,
the first woman created for him by God. Summers explains how, ‘’Rabbinical
literature is full of legends concerning Lilith.’’ (Summers, 1928, pg 199) The
myth is that when Lilith refused Adams sexual decree to lie beneath him, she
was cast out of Eden and travelled to the Red Sea. God made Eve from Adams rib
so that she would forever be a part of him. Lilith swore that she would become
the mother to all demons and she would kill every young infant unless they were
protected by the angels in the form of a charm hung above the cradle. Infants
were slaughtered in anger of her demon offspring being slaughtered during the
battle between good and evil. A tablet from 2400 BCE, also known as ‘The
Sumerian King List’, listed a king named Gilgamesh whose father was said to be
a Lillu. Lillu was a myth associated with a being that mated with people whilst
they slept, also known as the Succubi, who was said to be a forerunner of
Lilith. So Sumer has the first recorded stories of the vampire, yet scholars
still argue over where the original true vampire myth started.
The Romanians and the Slavs
Romanian’s also known as Vlachs, use
the name Strigoi to describe what they believe were vampires. Romania is
surrounded by Slavic countries and so their beliefs are very similar in this
part of the world. The Romanians believed that the vampire leaves the grave to
feed on the living and returns to the grave to rest. The Romanians have
speculated that if a person is born with, an extra nipple; excess hair; those
born too early; those whose mother had their path crossed by a black cat or who
had an animal walk over their grave; those who were born out of wedlock; those
who died unnaturally or who were not baptised at birth or before they died; the
7th child of a family; a mother whom do not eat salt and those who
had been looked at or cursed by a known witch or vampire, was presumed to
become a vampire after their death. The most definite way to become a vampire
was if a person had been either attacked or bitten by one. This idea resonates
throughout the world in every culture that believes in the existence of
vampires, in this case vampirism was inevitable. Vampires in Romania were
detected by holes in the ground; a corpse that does not decompose and has a red
face and bloated body, or by having one foot in the corner of its coffin. The
Romanians distributed garlic in church to ‘out’ the vampires, for if they did
not eat the garlic then they would be branded a vampire. Graves were exhumed
years later to check for vampirism. Many precautions were taken to prevent
vampirism occurring, such as the preparation before burial by placing thorny
plants or bushes over the grave, to deter animals from passing over the grave
and creating a vampire. They would also rub garlic over the animals and windows
of the houses in the village to stop a vampire from entering the house. The way
the Romanians destroyed vampires is not so different to how they are destroyed
in popular culture today. The Romanians would drive a stake through the vampire
body then they would place garlic in the mouth and decapitate the vampire. When
the Romanians believed that the vampire had caused a plague, the heart of the
vampire was burned and the ashes of the cremated vampire’s heart, was mixed
with water. This mixture was then given to those who were thought to be
infected by the vampires plague. The people would also stand in the smoke of
the burning vampire and they would be cleansed this way.
The causes of vampirism are very
similar in the Slavic beliefs; they lightly differ as the Slavs would also
place a crucifix into the vampire’s coffin and place blocks under its chin in
order to stop it from eating through the shroud. The clothes of the deceased
are also nailed to the coffin in an effort to pin the vampire down. Sawdust,
sand or poppy seed is also placed in the coffin as the belief was that the
vampire would not be able to leave the coffin until he had counted every grain,
and as this would take a long time they would be dead again by morning and
would have to start the counting process again when it awoke the next night.
Dundes writes,
One may also offer the dead a
peaceful occupation by putting quantities of sand and poppy seed into the
coffin. The sand and poppy seed must be counted grain by grain before the
vampire can leave its coffin.
(Dundes, 1998, pg 49)
Dundes also states that there was an epidemic concerning
vampires in Slavic countries around 1730. Another method to keep the vampire at
bay was to pierce the body with a stake usually straight through the vampire
into the ground below the coffin, this acting like a pin, just like pinning a
moth or butterfly. Some were even buried with a scythe above their neck so that
the vampire would automatically decapitate itself if it moved. The Slavs
believed that death of cattle or other animals and the death of relatives or
friends, would indicate that there was a vampire at large. They would then
exhume bodies and if they were still life-like, still had hair and nails
growing and the body was bloated (thought to be that of the victims blood that
had caused the swelling), then the Slavs would assume that this body was indeed
a vampire. Slavs also believed that by burning the bodies, repeating the burial
service and/or sprinkling the body with holy water, it would stop the vampires,
and in the case of sprinkling with holy water the vampire demise would be
inevitable.
The Greeks
Greece did not believe in vampires
until it became solidly Christian. The Greeks use the word Vrykolakas to
describe what they class as vampires. The Greeks believed that a vampire was a
corpse that was being used like a puppet by a demon which had taken possession
of the body. The Greeks conjecture was that the vampire only had to return to
the grave to rest on a Saturday, they could walk around during the daylight
hours just as a humans, though the demon/vampire was most powerful at night.
The Greeks used different methods to prevent vampires from rising. The corpse
is unearthed and an exorcism is carried out on the corpse, if this did not work
then the body would be buried again on a desert island as the Greeks believed
that vampires could not cross the sea. The Greeks believed that the only way to
completely ensure that the vampire is defeated is to burn the corpse.
In 1899, when I was in Santorini, I
was told that two or three years previously the inhabitants of Therasia had
burnt a vrykolakas, and when I
visited that island the incident was not denied
(Lawson, 1910, pg 374)
Theories as to how Greeks became vampires have similarities
to other beliefs globally. The theories include, anyone who is stillborn or who
has not been baptised before birth; if they were conceived or born on a
religiously holy day; those who had led a sinful life; people who were
heretics; people who practiced witchcraft and sorcery; if an animal passes over
a corpses grave; those who are excommunicated; those who did not have a
‘proper’ burial or who were not buried at all, could all become vampires. Once
again as in all the myths the main theory is being attacked by a vampire and
like in other cultures the vampire has previously been blamed for an outbreak
of plague. In 1888 the published writings of a priest on the island Sphakia, in
Crete, imposed the theory of being turned into a vampire. Lawson had translated
a section of this written work as
In this guise it keeps the body as
its dwelling-place and preserves it from corruption, and it runs swift as
lightening wherever it lists, and cause men great alarms at night and strikes
all with panic. And the trouble is that it does not remain solitary, but makes
everyone, who dies while it is about, like to itself, so that in a short space
of time it gets together a large and dangerous train of followers.
(Lawson,
1910, pg 373)
Vampire superstition was ‘’rife and vigorous’’, (Lawson,
1910, pg 373) in the isolated regions of Greece and he comments on how the
story is exaggerated. On the other hand in another part of Europe, during the
twelfth century, the belief that vampires were real creatures of the night
spread.
The English
Three men from England wrote about
their experiences, these men were Walter Map, William of Newburgh and William
of Malmesbury. In England the theory of the vampire is that the vampires were
possessed by a demon, and like the Greeks they believed that the person had
become a vampire due to living a sinful life. Summers states that
William of Malmesbury says that in
England it was commonly supposed and indeed certainly known that evil men
returned to walk in the world after they are dead and buried, inasmuch as their
bodies are re-animated by the Devil, who energizes them and compels them to act
as he desires.
(Summers, 1929, pg 78)
So the English also believe in the devils influence in the
‘existence’ of vampires and with England also being solidly Christian at this
time, crucifixes seemed to be a major part of the defence against vampires. The
English vampire myth is very similar to the Greek and Slavic interpretations of
the vampire myth. Summers talks about Walter Map and how his writings were seen
more as stories than fact, but seemed to be perceived as fact at the time. One
story mentions a Knight who had three children who had all had their throats
cut shortly after birth by a vampire who had impersonated the city’s respected
Matron. When they caught her trying to kill the Knights fourth born child, the
vampire flew out of the window. As this was occurring they realised that the
Matron had just entered the room, and the vampire-like creature had
impersonated her. They believe that the reason for this was due to the Matron
was of such good nature that she had ‘’stirred hell and provoked the anger of
devils against her.’’ (Summers, 1929, pg 91) so because of her good deeds they
wanted to destroy her.
William of Newburgh who was also from the twelfth
century, reported of a Knight who had risen from his grave and walked around
the village, the smell of his rotting flesh infected the air and caused a
plague. The villagers retrieved the corpse of the vampire and noticed that it
was bloated from the blood that it had drunk from the victims. The villagers
cremated the body away from the village and ‘’after that, both the appearances
of the vampire and the plague ended.’’ (Monsterous.com, Date Unknown). So
globally the myth has stayed at a constant with most people believing that a
vampire is a corpse possessed by the Devil. Not only this but also the methods
in which the vampire can be eliminated, for example, cremation. Every culture
seemed to believe that if you were attacked by a vampire, born with any sort of
deformity or had led a sinful life then eventually you would become one. Carl
Jung theory of the vampire is that the vampire is part of our human psyche. It
represents our desires and fears as a human race. Chapter two provides a
further explanation of the human psyche and explains some of the similarities
in the myths throughout history.
Monsterous.com (1998-2009) Vampire History, http://vampires.monstrous.com/history_vampiresindex.htm
(Accessed 26/092010)
Summers, M., (2003) The
Vampire In Europe UK: Kessinger Publishing
Summers, M.,(1928)The
Vampire: His Kith and Kin. UK: Kessinger Publishing
Dundes, A
(1998) The Vampire: A Casebook.
London: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Lawson M.A., J. C., (1910) Modern Greek Folklore. London: Cambridge University Press
By Lea Weller BA
No comments:
Post a Comment