An analysis of the vampiric folklore throughout the ages in eastern europe

How was he connected to nature and the life cycles. In Eastern Europe specifically, this need generated a blood-sucking, death-defying and decidedly evil figure, but also an array of techniques and rituals to help fight it. It was believed that if such a type of vampire is pierced with a knife or basically any sharp object it will burst into a splash of blood.

Another common story element is the vampire-butcher. These reports, prepared between andreceived widespread publicity.

It is perhaps important to note that the Russian Upir Upyr was considered a heretic, a sorcerer, a person who did not believe in Christ, or a person who was considered a sinner by some other means Gregoricka et al. This death, whatever it is, can provoke in the survivors the visions they had after his death.

Assumed vampire skeleton from Sofia with iron stake through chest. This could produce a groan-like sound when the gases moved past the vocal cords, or a sound reminiscent of flatulence when they passed through the anus. Few, if any, peoples have shown no respect to the dead, both before and after burial.

Belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires. Though less of a guessing game than the start date of the vampire, the end date is no less arbitrary.

Machates pretended that nothing was wrong, since he wished to investigate the whole incredible matter to find out if the girl he was consorting with, who took care to come to him at the same hour, was actually dead.

Vampires come out of their graves in the nighttime, rush upon people sleeping in their beds and destroy them. This tradition persisted in modern Greek folklore about the vrykolakas, in which a wax cross and piece of pottery with the inscription "Jesus Christ conquers" were placed on the corpse to prevent the body from becoming a vampire.

Certain people would bury those believed to be potential vampires with scythes above their necks, so the dead would decapitate themselves as they rose.

During this time Slovakia was part of Hungary, while Bulgaria remained an independent neighbor. In tolerating the religions of the non-Muslims [the Ottoman Empire] also accepted their usages and customs. Dogs, cats, plants or even agricultural tools could become vampires.

In the other famous case, Arnold Paole, an ex-soldier turned farmer who allegedly was attacked by a vampire years before, died while haying.

A less apparent answer is that liquids are life.

According to legend and folklore vampires are repelled by sunlight, garlic and crucifixes Crystal,as well as despatched by a nail through the skull, thorny roes placed on the skin, a stake through the body or heart, and decapitation Wright, ; Crystal, Folk beliefs Edit The notion of vampirism has existed for millennia; cultures such as the Macedonians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires.

An injured estrie could be healed by eating bread and salt given her by her attacker. Vampires proper originate in folklore widely reported from Eastern Europe in the late 17th and 18th centuries.

A skeleton with the head between the legs, discovered in Gliwice, Poland. Journal of Folklore Research vol. In Britain the belief in the vampire epidemic reached its height between and and can be compared to that in Serbia and Hungary.

Other potential victims were those who did not properly observe the burial ceremonies or kept the deceased's possessions instead of properly destroying them.

Noting that the condition is treated by intravenous haemhe suggested that the consumption of large amounts of blood may result in haem being transported somehow across the stomach wall and into the bloodstream.

In Bulgaria, over skeletons with metal objects, such as plough bits, embedded in the torso have been discovered. Decapitation and dismemberment, however, may have been connected with punishment for crimes.

In Eastern Europe specifically, this need generated a blood-sucking, death-defying and decidedly evil figure, but also an array of techniques and rituals to help fight it. The rich history of the Balkan region supplies us with an immense flow of folklore and creative energy, aiding the depiction and colorful imagery of myths and characters.

Analysis of major works in nineteenth-century Russian literature (from the Golden Age and Realism), and major themes such as lost love in the Russian novel. Taught in English. Prereq: Not open to students with credit for and Beginning inand lasting throughout the eighteenth century, even into the nineteenth century in some areas, there were a series of “vampire hysterias” throughout Eastern Europe (Penke ).

During this time in the 18th century, there was a frenzy of vampire sightings in Eastern Europe, with frequent stakings and grave diggings taking place in order to identify and kill the potential revenants; even government officials were compelled into the hunting and staking of vampires.

[25]. Despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity we know today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century Southeastern Europe, particularly Transylvania as verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of. While vampire folklore originated as part of pagan religious traditions across Eastern Europe, the adoption of Roman Catholicism in the 10 th century did not curb belief in vampires throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods.

An analysis of the vampiric folklore throughout the ages in eastern europe