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"There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane peoples."
~
Bram Stoker~

 

Vampire Origins

Enter Lilith:This myth begins at the very creation of man. Lilith, according to Hebrew/ Jewish texts, was the first woman created for Adam.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And God blessed them and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it.

Genesis 1:27-28 Many have made her a model for feminism, because when Adam demanded that she always be on the bottom for... um... sleeping purposes, she grew angry. "Why must I always be on the bottom? I was made of the same stuff as you. I should be on the top equally."

When Adam would not relent in his domination of her, she grew so angry that she uttered the holy name of God and vanished. God then had to make Eve for Adam, making her of his rib bone, rather than wholly dust, so that she would be attached to him and not leave as Lilith had done. Lilith went out to the Red Sea, where she made a bargain with the angels who had been sent to fetch her back to Adam. She was allowed to stay out on her own, as a witch, mother of all demons. She was allowed to kill infants up until their naming day (I believe 7 days for girls and 8 days for boys), unless they had a charm over their sleeping place with the names of the angels on them. Then, she promised, she would not kill them. (This story is usually explained as being an explanation for SIDS-- sudden infant death syndrome.) Lilith killed human children in retaliation for the thousands of her own demon children who were killed in the wars between good and evil.

Enter Cain: Cain was the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. He was banished, with a mark, from the land of his parents because he killed his brother in a jealous rage.

What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crith unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him shall kill him.

 


Genesis4:10-15 According to vampire legend, Cain wandered until he found Lilith by the Red Sea. She took him in and showed him the power of blood. (My religion teacher put it that the tree of life is represented in blood. Thus why Jewish persons staunchly drain all blood away from their meat before cooking and eating it. And thus why drinking blood/ being a vampire is such a big deal in a religious context.)

From Cain and Lilith came a host of demons and vampires in the vague myths. Cain is mentioned in the Bible as having a number of legitimate children, with an unnamed woman/ wife. Some of his children are even highly regarded, as they are listed with their inventions, such as the harp and metal working. But, past Gen. 4:26 there is no more mention of Cain's children or his line. Cain himself is referred to only twice more, in the New Testament, as "the prototype of the wicked man."

From what there is presented in the Bible, there is little to go on with the myth of Cain and Lilith. Lilith herself appears only in Jewish apocrypha texts-- she is in neither the Torah or the Bible. But what is interesting is Cain-- and it might be inferred Lilith too-- appears in the epic poem Beowulf, and with much more mention than he ever receives in the Bible.

 

...Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend,
Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild
Marshes, and made his home in a hell
Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime,
Conceived by a pair of those monsters born
Of Cain, murderous creatures banished
By God, punished forever for the crime
Of Abel's death. The Almighty drove
Those demons out, and their exile was bitter,
Shut away from men; they split
Into a thousand forms of evil-- spirits,
And fiends, goblins, monsters, and giants.
A brood forever opposing the Lord's
Will, and again and again defeated.
(Ll. 101-114)

...Cain had killed his only
Brother, slain his father's son
With an angry sword, God drove him off,
Outlawed him to the dry and barren desert,
And branded him with a murder's mark. And he bore
Arace of fiends accursed like their father...
(Ll. 1261-1266)



How intriguing is that? Where does the author's venom for Cain come from? Yes, he's a sinner, but in the Bible it seems that he goes off and does the best he can, building the city of Enoch, and having a lineage of creative descendants. In the other references to him, he is used as an example of a sinner, but without malice. But the author(s) of Beowulf seems to heap undue vileness onto Cain. There is simply no place in the Bible that speaks of Cain in such a hate-filled regard. What's even more interesting is that Grendel's forefathers are referred to as a pair. "The Almighty drove/ Those demons out" when there is clearly no mention of God driving anyone out of Eden but Cain.

The only other time we see sin in (around) Eden is when we look at the legends of Lilith. It was she who said the holy name of God and vanished out from Eden. And Lilith, in the Jewish tradition, has always been seen as the mother of demons. So for there to have been demons, Lilith must have conceived them (Cain's wife was busy having good children). I think the original author of Beowulf must have known of this Lilith legend (it certainly isn't obscure) and implied this in his writing, because the audience otherwise knows that there was no one expelled but Cain, and that, in the Bible, he stays a legitimate person, not a bearer of monsters.

 

To further drive home the point that the author knew what he was talking about, Beowulf was first written down and preserved by monks-- who were the only literate people in their time. The tale originated somewhere in the 600's in England, and was thought to have been written down at a later time (it was a bard's tale before that, made to be sung). As monks have a notorious reputation for adding God and His works into things as they write, we would certainly expect to find more references to Christianity than would have probably been present in the newly Christian world that the poem was composed in. So it can only be concluded that the author knew what he was talking about and wrote down something that had meaning to his audience at the time, but which has been lost to us since.
At the time of the composing of the poem, and during the later years when it was written down, the Bible of choice was the Vulgate, of Jerome's Latin Bible. I have attempted to look through the Latin text of this Bible, and have searched for Cain references, but itappears to have no more to say about Cain than does the later (and most popular) version, the King James Version (which most all of us know). The origin of the Cain = monstrous evil myth is well obscured and lost, which allows us to speculate even more as to where monsters-- in particular, vampires-- came from.

 

Vlad Tepes (Dracula)

Anyone who has read Dracula or seen any version of its movies, will know about the legend that Vlad Tepes started the vampiric line.Vlad the Impaler did not resemble the stereotypical Dracula character we think of today. Having lived from 1431 to 1476, Vlad the Impaler was a ruler of Wallachia, a region of Romania. Vlad the Impaler was also known as Vlad III and Vlad Tepes. He was a prince known for his cruelty and propensity to impale anyone who got in his way. In Romania, the real Dracula is known as a patriotic figure who was victorious against his enemies and who fought for his country.  

Judas Iscariot

A somewhat obscure myth, folklore holds that vampires originated with Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Christ. Because Judas had betrayed Christ to the Romans, he and his family were cursed. The Bible holds that Judas committed suicide because of his guilt; suicides in vampire folklore were very likely to come back as vampires, so this may have helped contribute to the belief that vampires originated with Judas. Also, vampires descended from Judas were usually identifiable by their red hair.

This probably points to the origin of the myth among the Greeks, as they believed red hair to be a mark of vampirism. Among the dark Greek, red-hair would certainly seem strange, but among people farther north, closer to the Scandinavian countries which feature such hair, there would be little to no stigma attached to it. Someone pointed out that the vampire's aversion to silver perhaps comes from this myth, as Judas betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver. When Judas tried to return the silver and could not, he cast it away as something hateful to himself. However, the use of silver as a deterrent for vampires is more widespread than the Judas myth. Though I have yet to find any good explanation of it, silver may be used because of its religious significance among pagan religions, which were carried over into vampire folklore. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himsef.

(Matthew 27:3-5)

source: http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/

 

 

Tales of Vampires come from nearly ever culture. Lilu were mentioned in early Bablyonian Demonology. These were female demons who roamed in darkness and killed newborn babies and pregnant women. One demon, Lilitu, was adapted into Jewish demonology. She is sometimes called the mother of all vampires. In Egyptian scriptures Sekhmet became full of blood lust after slaughtering humans. Slavic Folklore holds the idea of vampires being afraid of silver and drinking blood. and could be killed by staking the heart.

Most European vampire myths have Slavic or Romanian origins.

Slavic vampires:

were people born on certain days, born with a caul, teetj, or tail, had an irregular death or had improper burial rites. People put crucifix in the coffin, or staked the body. They could be destroyed by decapitation, holy water on the grave or staked .

Romanian Vampires

Tales of vampires were found in the ancient roman times too. They are similiar to the slavic vampire (hence the countries being so close)They were called strigoi based on the greek term strix. (which meant demon or witch) Some are live witches who will become vampires after death. Strigoi morti (dead vampires) are corpses who drink blood. As in Slavic if someone was born with a caul, tail, died unantural death, died before baptism was doomed to become a vampire as was the 7th child of the same sex in a family also being bitten by one meant becoming a vampire. Many graves were open; 3 years after the death of child, 5 after death of young person or 7 after the death of an adult to check for vampirism. To sop a vampire they would stake it and put garlic in it's mouth or shoot a bullet through the coffin.

Roma vampires:

Bhut or Pret is the soul of a man was died an untimely death and wanders the earth attacking the living. In north india the Brahmarak Shasa was a vampire like creature that had a head encircled by intestines and a skull that drank blood. Vetala and pishacha were other vampiric creatures. Kali is a deity associated with blood drinking who wears a garland of corpses or skulls and has fangs. Mullo (one who is dead) is a vampire legend that says the vamprie comes back to suck the blood of the person that caused their death. Anyone who looked hideous or had missing limbs was said to be a vampire. If someone died unseen he would become a vampire or if the corpse swelled before burial. Even pets, animals or ever food was said to become vampiric! There are such things as vampiric watermelons!Some people would hire a Dhampir (son of the vampire) to detect the vampire. Gypsys drove steel or iron nails into the corpses heart and placed stell on the eyes, mouth, ears and between the fingers. They drove hawthorn through the sock or leg of a corpse. Some believe vampires were invisible.

Greek beliefs:

They believed the Lamia had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a serpant and craved blood. Many folklores also feature vrykolakas. (synonymous with vampire)

Aztec mythology:

Civataeo was a sort of vampire created when a noblewomen died in childbirth.

Caribbean vampires

called soucoyah take the form of an old woman by day and at night shed their skin to become balls of flame that seek blood. They were obsessive-compulsive. They believed they could kill them by rubbing salt into their discarded skin to burn them upon returning to it.

Indian mythology:

They believe a spirit called the vetela is a wraithly vampire that can leave it's host body to feed.

Japan mythology:

Kitsune is a vampiric shapeshifting fox spirit. It drains the life force of it's victims by charming them.

Philippine folklore:

Manananggal was a female vampire whose upper body could separate from the lower body and could fly using wings. she sucked the blood of fetuses. The Aswang was a female who was beautiful by day and a fearsome flying fiend at night.

Malaysian folklore:

The Penanggalan was a vamprie whos head seperated from the body. The Pontianak was a female vampire who sucked the blood of newborn babies, young children and pregnant women.

Other Theories

Mythology:

The first Vampire was Lilith, also the first wife of Adam that she eventually left for Lucifer. In short, the bone of the quarrel was that Lilith would prefer to stand over Adam but God wanted the man to rule. Lilith is also the Queen of Death and Demons. She was and is still adored in almost all religions by magicians, sorceress and witches.

The Hormone Theory:

According to this theory, the vampire is the next step of human evolution. A genetic complex present inside our body but usually dormant get activated by a hormone brought in from an external source. The hormone transforms the victim's physical form and the new vampire will be able to inject the hormone into another victim.

The Fallen Angels Theory:

This theory inspired from the Books of Enoch claims that vampires are the offspring of the union between the Watchers (Fallen Angels) and humans. When the Children of the Watchers had consumed all of the food available, they turned to mankind and began to eat their flesh and drink their blood. In another adjunct, vampires are the offspring of the daughters of Eve (female humans) and the Angel of Death sent by God on Earth. Vampires have the mission to control and thwart the demonic offspring of the fallen angels.

The Nanobot Theory:

Nanobots, created either by renegade scientists or a race of reptilians, were introduced into a handful of human bodies in order to repair damaged cells. These nanobots performed so well that they rendered their hosts immortal. However, the Nanobots themselves are not immortal and must self-replicate by utilizing the iron atoms from the hemoglobin in the host's red blood cells. The result of this nanoreplication process is the constant need for sufficient supplies of blood. Unable to keep up with the demand, the host has no choice but to seek out blood from others. If the colony of Nanobots exceeds the host's ability to supply sufficient RBCs, some nanobots may migrate into another host, usually the next victim of the primary host's bite.

The Atlantis Theory:

The Atlantans, in their quest to prolong life, have conducted biological and genetic experiments which end result was a new human that could live for centuries but had to drink the blood of humans in order to survive. Vampires have escaped the Great Flood as the Atlantans, not satisfied with the results, had buried them in an underground crypt.

The Alien Vampire Theory:

Since H.G. Wells' "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid" in 1894, there has been many writings and movies exploring the possibility of a space alien taking over a human body in order to live off the life energies of others. Those space aliens are some kind of parasites that control our mind and draw our vital forces. When they have exhausted the body, they look for a new host. In another adjunct, vampires do not come from outer space but from another dimension.

Etymology:

The word 'vampire' derives from the Slavic word 'vampir' or 'vampyr', first appearing in the 1600s in the Eastern European region in the Balkans. 'vampir' is derived from 'upir', which first appeared in print in an Old Russian manuscript from 1047 AC in which a Novgorodian prince is referred to as 'Upir Lichyj' (Wicked Vampire). But the origin of 'upir' is even more controversial. Franz Miklosich suggested that 'upir' is derived from 'uber', a Turkish word for 'witch' whereas Andre Vaillant suggests just the opposite. Kazimierz Moszynski suggests that 'u-pir' is from a Serbo-Croatian word 'pirati' (to blow). Aleksandr Afanasev points to the Slavic 'pij' (to drink), which may have entered the Slavic language from the Greek, via Old Church Slavonic. A. Bruckner proposes Russian 'netopyr' (bat).

Diseases linked to Vampirism:

Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), meaning pigmented dry skin is a rare, often fatal genetic disorder that leaves its victims acutely vulnerable to skin and eye cancers if they are even briefly exposed to sun or any ultraviolet rays. The body fails to produce one of the enzymes necessary to make heme, the red pigment in hemoglobin. Strangely, Garlic stimulates heme production (a reason for its inclusion in many herbal blood tonics) and can turn a mild case of porphryia into a severe and painful one. There is less than 100,000 identified cases of XP nowadays but inbreeding could have stimulated the disease in the middle ages, creating pockets of it in isolated areas. Drinking blood could have been considered as a remedy in the dark ages but the human body is not made to assimilate heme directly from blood so it cannot be a cause of vampirism.

info by: http://angelondeathrow.tripod.com/raven/id1.html

Vampire Folklore

The appearance of the European folkloric vampire contained mostly features by which one was supposed to tell a vampiric corpse from a normal one, when the grave of a suspected vampire was opened. The vampire has a "healthy" appearance and ruddy skin, he is often plump, his nails and hair have grown and, above all, he/she is not in the least decomposed or in anyway pale.

The most common ways to destroy the vampire are driving a wooden stake through the heart, decapitation, and incinerating the body completely. Ways to prevent a suspected vampire from rising from the grave in the first place include burying it upside-down, severing the tendons at the knees, or placing poppy seeds on the ground at the gravesite of a presumed vampire in order to keep the vampire occupied all night counting. Chinese narratives about vampires also state that if a vampire comes across a sack of rice, s/he will have to count all of the grains. There are similar myths recorded on the Indian Subcontinent. South American tales of witches and other sorts of evil or mischievous spirits or beings have a similar aspect to it.

Apotropaics, i.e. objects intended to inhibit or ward off vampires (as well as other evil supernatural creatures), include garlic (confined mostly to European legends), sunlight, a branch of wild rose, the hawthorn plant, and all things sacred (e.g., holy water, a crucifix, a rosary) or an Aloe vera plant hung backwards behind the door or near it, in South American superstition. This weakness on the part of the vampire varies depending on the tale. In stories of other regions, other plants of holy or mystical properties sometimes have similar effects. In Eastern legends, vampiric creatures are often similarly warded by holy devices such as Shinto seals.

Vampires are sometimes considered to be shape-shifters not limited to the common bat stereotype depicted in cartoons and movies. (Rather, vampires are said to morph into a wide variety of animals such as wolves, rats, moths, spiders, and so on).

Some Vampires in European folklore are said to cast no shadow and no reflection, perhaps arising from folklore regarding the vampire's lack of a soul. However this was not universal as the Ustrel (Poland) and Vrykolakos/Tympanios (Balkans) did supposedly cast shadows and reflections.

Some traditions hold that a vampire cannot enter a house unless invited, although they only have to be invited once after this they can come and go as they please without further permission.

Roman Catholic tradition holds that vampires cannot enter a church or holy place, as they are servants of the devil.

info by: http://www.crystalinks.com/vampires.html

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