#vampire mythos

[allengreenfield]

The Last Voyage of the Demeter: The Real-Life Lore Behind Dracula in History | SYFY WIRE

[folkofthecorner]

happy halloween yall have some art as a treat :>

[vanilla-cigarillos]

A History of Vampires

Vampy vampy vampires! I’m not talking about Twilight; today I want to make a post talking about the real cultural significance of vampires in different folk beliefs around the world.

What Is A Vampire?

“...a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living.”

- Good ol’ Wikipedia

When we think of vampires, we picture Dracula in his brooding cloak sucking the life out of others. We see those characteristic fangs, an aversion to garlic, and a fatal vulnerability to sunlight. 

Vampiric creatures have been noted in cultures around the world for generations. 

A History of “Vampires” (Popularized in the West)

Cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Ancient Greeks, and Manipuri have folk tales of entities that are now considered to be precursors to modern-day vampires. Despite such occurrences of vampiric creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for what most consider vampires today comes almost exclusively from early 18-thcentury Southeastern Europe. 

The term “vampire” itself was popularized in Western Europe after reports of mass hysteria during the 18th-century. Said hysteria originated from a pre-existing folk belief in Southeastern and Eastern Europe that in some cases ended in corpses being staked, and some people were even persecuted under the accusation of vampirism.

Early folk beliefs in vampires has typically been summed up to pre-existing ignorance of how the body would decompose after death, with people attempting to explain such decay through the existence of vampires.

The more personable and charismatic version of the vampire, born in fiction, came in 1819 with the publication of The Vampyre by John Polidori. Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula in 1897 would later on provide the basis of the modern vampire legend and be remembered as the most significant vampire novel in literature. However, it is worth noting that Stoker’s novel came after the publication of the 1872 novel Carmilla, published by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu. 

Folk Beliefs

In Slavic and Chinese folk traditions, any corpse that was jumped over by an animal (especially a dog or cat) was feared to become a “vampire”. There was also believed to be a risk with a body having any wound that wasn’t treated with boiling water.

In Russian folklore, vampires were said to have been witches or people who had rebelled against the Russian Orthodox Church while alive. 

Within Jewish traditions, “alukah” is synonymous with vampires. The creature is said to be a living human being, but can change into a wolf. It also has the ability to fly by releasing its long hair, and would eventually die if not allowed to feed on blood for an extended amount of time. Once dead, a vampire could be prevented from becoming a demon by being buried with its mouth stuffed with soil.

Albanian mythology discusses both the “shtriga” and the “dhampir”. Shtriga is a vampiric witch that sucks blood from infants while they sleep at night, then turning into a flying insect. Only a shtriga could cure those she drained blood from. A cross made of pig bone could be placed at the entrance of a church on Easter Sunday, which would render any shtriga inside unable to leave. Then, they could be captured and killed. 

The Ashanti people in West Africa have folk tales of the iron-toothed and tree-dwelling “asanbosam” which can take the form of a firefly and hunts for children for their blood.

The Betsileo people of Madagascar have stories of “ramanga”, a vampire who drinks the blood and eats the nail clippings of nobles.

The Mapuche of southern Chile have stories of a bloodsucking snake known as “Peuchen”, with aloe vera being hung backwards behind or near a door to ward off vampiric entities across a variety of South American superstition. 

Aztec mythology has folk tales of the Cihuateteo, which are skeletal-faced spirits of humans who died in childbirth. These entities were said to steal children, and entered into sexual liaisons with the living, which would drive them to insanity.

[tatters-the-bat]

A vampire has become so good at supernaturally fast counting that he's practically immune to the requirement of having to count things that he sees.

He encounters a vampire hunter, who menacingly brandishes a bag of rice. The vampire glances inside and pauses for only a second before saying, "1,836" and continuing his approach with a wide, devious grin.

The vampire hunter narrows his eyes and removes a grain of rice, taking a big step back. The vampire pauses and sighs.

"1,835."

Once he finishes saying it, the vampire hunter removes another grain of rice; the vampire can only take a single short step.

"..... 1,834. You know you're going to run out of rice eventually, right?"

The vampire hunter takes out another grain of rice.

"1,833."

The vampire hunter puts the grain of rice back into the bag.

"............................. 1,834. I hate you."

[ghostpoetics]

More about the books, including content warnings and purchase links, can be found here.

[valhahazred]

Queen Vaelnorn, Mistress of the Crimson Moon.

She is the unquestioned ruler of the dark conquerors in the year 16,000.

[raayllum]

Callum falling for what his people consider to be death incarnate "What, like it's hard?"

[makosxa]

The Shambler from the Stars or here's my take on the star vampire's gijinka–

[spikedru]

vampire media that has their vampires allowed to be in the sun are so lame like what. are you too cool for vampires?

[rubatozis]

that awkward moment when ur bf goes missing during the war but when u finally find him turns out he became a creature of the night

(pls consider reblogging. likes dont boost posts at all)

[fate-defiant]

it bugs me that it's never made quite clear if the whole raven blood schtick is Possession™ or more of a Jekyll-and-Hyde situation. I personally lean more towards the latter as it's more coherent, like, themes-wise.

[allengreenfield]

Dracula: June 30 - by DraculaDaily - Dracula Daily

[adrianicsea]

this is an issue with all forms of low culture/entertainment (i mean low in the academic sense, not a judgmental one) but it is sooooo crazy how the people who regularly dismiss those forms of low culture as “trash” or otherwise not worth their time will THEN turn around and try to talk a big game about analyzing that selfsame low culture. like why is it difficult to grasp that you as an outsider are simply not going to have a fully informed or interesting take on a subject, EVEN IF the subject has cultural connotations of being lowbrow, trashy, or otherwise “simple!!!!!” go back to the kids’ table god DAMN!!!!!!!

[monsterilf]

The MonsterILF bracket is ready!

I have 16 names! Unfortunately I couldn't include every submission. I am only one Beauty and I've got a lot of beasts to wrangle! We've got a nice mix of heavyweights and dark horses -- monster boys, monster girls, and monsters outside the gender binary. Let's meet them now:

Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village) vs. Cthulhu (Cthulhu Mythos)

Medusa (Greek Mythology) vs. Elias Ainsworth (The Ancient Magus' Bride)

Zoe (Monster Prom) vs. The Princess (Slay the Princess)

The Amphibian Man (The Shape of Water) vs. Marceline the Vampire Queen (Adventure Time)

Wayne (Scarlet Hollow) vs. Rachnera Arachnera (Monster Musume)

Milo Belladonna (Monster Camp) vs. Mr Pages (Fallen London, Mask of the Rose)

Shai-Hulud/Sandworm (Dune) vs. The Beast/Prince Adam (Beauty and the Beast)

Sans (Undertale) vs. Noelle Levine (Witch's Heart)

VOTING BEGINS TUESDAY, MARCH 14 AT 4 PM US CENTRAL. While you're waiting, follow me, reblog, and send me your propaganda. Good fortune to all MonsterILFs!

--Beauty

[consumeroflemoans]

Which myths would you be particulary excited about working into the superfox verse

Greek myths are always a classic. I’ve already mentioned things like centaurs, harpies, sirens, and dryads. But tbh them in a modern setting has already been thoroughly explored by stories like Percy Jackson so they’re not the most exciting to explore.

I think what I’m most anticipating is Celtic folklore. It’s always been one of my favorite mythos. I kind of want to include Kelpies somehow because I love those murder horses but I’m not sure how. I just love how many of their creatures are just slightly inhuman like with the fae, leprechauns, werewolves, bodach, the dullahan, vampires, and a bunch of unique ghosts like the banshee. It would be fun to find ways to integrate them into modern society.

I think I just have a weakness for myths about tricksters

[theonewiththevampires]

People claiming that vampires are a metaphor for, 'nobles' or the, 'ruling elite' are fascinating to me because I can't think of a single story where that's true and yet they act as if this is not only the most common metaphor, but the only one. Apparently, Dracula is about the dangers of the upper class.

Guys. It's about sex. Vampires have always been about sex.