The Vampires

The Vampires


The vampire is the best known and the most fascinating type of the undead.
His origin reaches far in the history of the mankind.He lives in the mysterious space between this side and the hereafter.His existence associates him with the human being, because he needs blood to survive and to "create" new vampires.


The meaning of blood

Blood is the universal foodsource of the undead and it doesn’t matter wether it’s from animals, man, or like in modern times from a blood bank.Blood gives life and so one ascribes supernatural and mystic qualities to it.To lose blood means a loss of vitality and to receive blood means cure and a new life.
The idea that blood is essential for vampires rests on a complex of ancient myths, in which the death,the immortality and the human being are reflected. The desire of the vampire for blood is an omnipresent theme in literature.


Characteristics of vampires and their look

The vampire has qualities, which are resembling in the different cultures worldwide.
There are thousand different vampire - types in the different cultures and religions.

The cristian church of the late Middle Ages assigned the vampires f.ex. in two groups:

the poor souls,who never did something wrong in their lifetime. the as sinner deceased,whos body is a tool satans.They had to be tracked down and to exterminated.

The first modification of the word vampire came into being about 1000 after Christus ? Upir.At this time one started to write down the whole incidents of the history of the vampires.

The because of the creation of vampires are certain qualities and characteristics of the human race.If there are certain characteristics one runs traditionally the risk of becoming a vampire after death.
Some circumstances of becoming a vampire are listet here:

the mother is fixated by a vampire during the pregnancy the mother doesn’t take enough salt during the pregnancy the conception happens at certain religious holidays the birth happens at new moon or at certain religious holidays the child is born with ovumskin,long hairs,teeth,a birthsign or two hearts the child is the sevent son of the sevent son the child isn’t christened the child is too early weaned.

Through a certain behaviour in ones lifetime exists the danger to become a vampire.Such behaviour may be a sinful life,ungodliness,murder,incest,cruelty and greed.In the same way one becomes a vampire by practising of witchcraft and black magic or through consuming a sheep, which had been tore up from a wolf.

The word vampire has a slavish origin and stands for a flying creature.
Some qualities of a vampire are:

he can fly his noiseless appearence loss of appetite exceptional physical strength and agility his pale complexion he hasn’t a shadow,because the mirror image reflects the soul high light - sensitivity bloodshot, red eyes long fingernails,which he needs for dig up from his burial place bad breath,hairy palms of his hands and fangs a vampire is also make out by certain clothes, like the typical long, black cape - sometimes with red inside lining.Vampires at an old age sometimes wear a top hat.

The general look of the vampire was laid down through film and literature.
The male vampire wears a perfect old - fashioned suit.He has brilliant white fangs,a hypnotic look in his eyes and seems to be very attractive, but he changes into a frightening monster as soon as he’s in danger.
The female vampire appears usually in white.She’s tall,slim and pale,seductive till provocative and she’s fit out with all symbols of voluptuousity,danger and prohibitionnes.

The european vampire appears in his shroud and gives off a terrible smell,which is described as a combinaion of blood and mould.The face is a terribe grimace, the mouth is smeared with bloos and mud and the eyes are bloodgreeded and flashed.

In some cultures is the vampire described as animal or half human,half animal. F.ex. is the chinese kuang - shi covered with green fur and the african adze appears as grotesque hunchbacked dwarf.

It’s proved that the typical vampireteeth are deformities from syphilis.Syphilis patients have also bloodshot eyes and so they look like vampires and so they have contribute to myth - making.


Historical vampires

Historical the vampirecult trace back to two essential persons:

Vlad III Tepes Elisabeth Báthory

Vlad III Tepes (1431 - 1476/77):

Also known as Vlad Draculea - translated: Vlad,the dragons (devils) son.
He was born in Siebenbürgen/Transylvania.He lived up to his name caused by his torture and blood - passion.He used to drink the blood of his enemies and to take a bath in his enemies blood.One day he was considered to be missing and so one pronounced his death.Later the corpse was found and preserved but the cause of death stayed mysterious and unsettled.After years one opened his tomb but hadn’t found any remains.A sign for vampires???

Bram Stoker was inspirated by Vlad Draculea and wrote down the archetype of the vampire - roman: "Bram Stokers Dracula".

Elisabeth Báthory (1560 - 1614):

She's also known as the "countess of blood".Her beauty was wellknown and so they say that she took care to keep it through having a bath in blood.She found also a big pleasure in watching during breakfast how one murdered like she assigned (above 100 victims).
In the time between 1300 till the 20^thcentury there were regularly vampire - hysterias.


The vampires place of rest and his extermination

It isn't easy for a vampire to find the right soil to set up his camp.The most suitable place is Transylvania and the rest of east - Europe, but it's hard to believe that there is also nutritious soil in Styria.It's known that the Greek group of islands,the Cyclades are also an adequate homeland.They settle also on the Philipinnes,in Mexico and in Holland.
If a vampire has found the adequate land, the most popular place of resistence is the cemetery (graveyard).The cemetery is a consecrated ground,where man find their rest.Just this rest is refused to the vampires, and so cemeteries, castle ruins, moors and other lonely,dark areas were considered to be breeding places from vampires.Gloomy cemeteries were an indispensable element for the vampirefilms in the 30ies and 40ies.

Strangely in some of these productions, vampires promenade through cemeteries without being impressed from the crosses and crucifixes.......J

There were lists drawn up as cure for extermination and protection.
A little extract of it:

garlic incense and holy water mirrors excommunications and spells crosses and crucifixes ....

Other international extermination - methods are: impaling, decapitation and burning.Weapons,which are used against vampires should be consecrated.
There are other criterions for the burial necessary:

Leave no animals in the near of a corpse! Lay down a dead cat or dog on the threshold! Don’t leave the corpse in the moonlight! Close the eyes and the mouth of the corpse, so that they don’t touch the shroud! Put burial objects like garlic,incense or the bible into the coffin!

After it you bury the corpse in belly side.At the coffin lid is a sharpened stake, which drives into the heart when you close the coffin.


The meaning of the heart for the vampires

The heart is the most powerful organ for the vampire.They stop to exist if their heart is damaged or destroyed.Rumainia vampires called Strigoi have two hearts.One for the human life and the other one makes their existence as vampire possible.





The meaning of the coffin

The burial in coffins made of wood or stone arise from the wish to protect the deceased from becoming animal - food or to make a survival above the physical death possible, like one did in the ancient Egypt.
The coffin is a symbol for the physical segregation between the living and the dead.
The coffin stayed a long time a privileg for the wealthy people.The corpses of the ordinary people were carried on a board to the cemetery and there one let them glide into the grave.

In vampire - literature and film the coffin as place of rest of the vampire has become a stereotype.

All the facts I’ve mentioned in the text so far are only the norm for the vampire extermination.
All vampires are individual! That means that a vampire needn’t to be afraid of daylight and the aversion to crucifixes may come from fantasy.
There are the most different species with the most different fondnesses and qualities.The older a vampire is the more old - fashioned is he (by nature vampires are immortal) and the more he agrees with the typical qualities - the perfect vampire.

The common assumption that the undead have an immortal life is refuted by some tribes.In many cultures the vampire has a lifespan between 30 days and 30 years.In Albania one think that a vampire changes back into a man if he isn’t exterminated within 30 years.
However the idea of immortality is so fascinating that authors and film maker grant vampires an endless existence.
According to an unwritten law the vampire becomes more powerful and wiser but often he gets tired of his existence so that he exterminates himself by going into the fire or the sunshine.

Every man has a certain idea of vampires.Often he’s described as beautiful, erotic and mysterious.But there are also disgusting and dreadful vampir - species with a hairy face and protruding eyes....

There are stories about incidents of an alleged vampire - death but if they are real we don’t know.
There was even a story about a case in Austria,which stayed unsolved.


The epigraph read:

COUNTESS DOLINGEN TO GRAZ
IN STYRIA
SEARCHED AND FOUND DEAD
1801

In the whole shadowworld of ghosts and demons there is no creature,who is so horrifying, so feared and detested and who holds such an attraction for fascination like the vampire, who is neither a ghost nor a demon but a part of the dark side of the nature, vested with mysterious and dreadful qualities of both.
Reverent Montague Summers, 1928


Anne Rice


She’s an American author, born in 1941.
She’s considered to be the Queen of the modern gothic novel.
As daughter of an irish immigrant she was born in New Orleans.
She lived longer times in San Francisco, where she studied but today she lives in her hometown again, with her husband and her son.
Her first roman "Interview with the Vampire", published in 1976, was a great success and was praised from critics as the best vampire - roman since "Bram Stokers Dracula".The book was adapted for the screen from Neil Jordan in 1994 and forms together with "The Vampire Lestat","Queen of the Damned" and "The tale of the Body Thief" the "CRONICLE OF THE VAMPIRES".

In "Interview with the Vampire" Louis, a relatively young vampire, tells the reporter Daniel in San Francisco his story.Louis became a vampire in 1791 in New Orleans.The vampire who made Louis to one of his species was Lestat de Lioncourt, who plays a central role in the following romans.
In this roman come across vividly the thoughts and feelings of the vampires, damned for an everlasting life.

1843 Worte in "deutsch"  als "hilfreich"  bewertet