Belief in vampires or some form of the dark bloodsucking creature existed long before written record.\u00a0 These creatures formed in each culture and each era as a result of religion and lack of scientific education.\u00a0 Additionally, many practices of long ago fascinate us today because of the gory and vampiric nature involved.\u00a0 Such practices include cannibalism, sacrifice, and how the dead were buried before modern advances.\u00a0 Hence, one can safely gather that vampirism or vampires are a direct result of culture and scientific misunderstanding.<\/p>\n
Vampires are immortal creatures who feed off the blood of the living, and blood is the key factor in all origins of vampire folklore.\u00a0 Some argue that the soul lives within the blood or more simply put, it is the source of all life.\u00a0 Also, if one can die when one loses blood, one could logically think that drinking blood would bring about life.\u00a0 Due to such ideas, many ancient cultures implemented sacrifices, rituals, and sometimes entire lives around the substance (Masters 4).<\/p>\n
When someone hears the word cannibalism, most societies see horrific images of individuals ripping at human flesh.\u00a0 What could be considered even more disturbing is the fact that people have been eating each other for centuries.\u00a0 After all, man is a carnivorous animal, and unless you are a sworn vegetarian, people hunger for meat (Masters 5).\u00a0 Ancient societies viewed other humans as foodstuffs, and the aversion to such a taboo today is no different than Semitic people thinking pig and dog are unclean to eat (6).\u00a0 However, the eating of flesh is comparatively irrelevant to vampirism except for one common theme.\u00a0 The transfer of a life source from the dead to the living was essential.\u00a0 Blood was licked from spears, and hands went unwashed just so the blood could be licked off later.\u00a0 Thus, one can see how cannibalism could have morphed into a blood fetish (7).<\/p>\n
Sacrifice and ritual are common practices in most religions.\u00a0 Appeasing the spirits and gods are one reason such practices are performed.\u00a0 The completion of magical workings could be considered another.\u00a0 So, it is no surprise that ancient cultures used the same concepts in their daily lives.\u00a0 Those who were responsible for starting vampire folklore were those involving the sacrificing of a victim.\u00a0 This victim was a trade-off for a favor from a god or used to make peace with a deity.\u00a0 The victim could be an animal, or the devotee could quite literally offer a part of himself in the form of a severed finger or hair.\u00a0 Blood began to replace such measures, and only a couple of drops of blood from a worshipper would suffice.\u00a0 On the other hand, the sacrifice of others was more common. Individuals in high standing would permit criminals to be presented as offerings to the gods, or they would use sacrifice as a means of substituting someone else to take the place of their plights.\u00a0 One of the best examples of such sacrifice is when the Aztecs chose to pour the blood of their victims into their idols\u2019 mouths (Masters 11).\u00a0 In all manners of sacrificial victims, then, life force was essential in completion of the task, and blood became the center of this life force.<\/p>\n
Along with cultural influences, lack of scientific knowledge helped to form the vampire lore understood now.\u00a0 One of the greatest influences on this lore is how the dead were prepared for burial long before embalming became commonplace.\u00a0 When a body decays without any preservation or embalmment, the following will occur:<\/p>\n
* The body will turn different colors depending upon the gases and infections involved.\u00a0 Blues, reds, and dark greens will be prevalent (Barber 105).<\/p>\n
* The body will swell up to possible massive proportions and one of the most noticeable areas will be the abdomen.\u00a0 The swelling is a result of the gases expelled from the decaying process.<\/p>\n
* Blood or blood stained fluid escape the mouth and nostrils (106).<\/p>\n
* The body may decay at any rate depending upon the environment it is placed in at the time.\u00a0 Environmental factors include presence of air, moisture, microorganisms, temperatures, and insects (107).<\/p>\n
* Hair will slip away from the scalp, and the skin will begin to slough away.\u00a0 These consequences of decay make the body appear to have grown new hair or new nails (109).<\/p>\n
While there are other visual effects seen as a result of decay, one can quickly understand just how the listed characteristics alone could cause alarm to someone who would stumble upon such a body.\u00a0 Furthermore, it was not unusual for people to be buried alive because comas and other medical conditions were not understood (99).\u00a0 Scavengers, either animal or human, were also known to disturb gravesites, and any movement would appear suspicious to the uneducated and superstitious (125).\u00a0 Consequently, as a result of all this simple scientific misunderstanding, people were once quick to point to the presence of vampires.<\/p>\n
Vampire folklore is a direct result of ancient and past cultures trying to survive according to their standards or due to their misunderstanding of scientific processes.\u00a0 Cannibalism and sacrifice exposed people to the concept of life force transfer from the dead to the living.\u00a0 The handling of a human body after death before modern techniques were established added to the vampire idea.\u00a0 Hence, because of ancient societies’ lack of scientific knowledge and sophistication, vampire folklore was fostered and began to grow into the cult phenomenon we know today.<\/p>\n
Works Cited<\/p>\n
Barber, Paul.\u00a0 Vampires, Burial, and Death:\u00a0 Folklore and Reality.\u00a0 New Haven:\u00a0 Yale University Press, 1988.<\/p>\n
Masters, Anthony.\u00a0 The Natural History of the Vampire.\u00a0 London:\u00a0 Rupert Hart-Davis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ltd, 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Belief in vampires or some form of the dark bloodsucking creature existed long before written record.\u00a0 These creatures formed in each culture and each era as a result of religion and lack of scientific education.\u00a0 Additionally, many practices of long ago fascinate us today because of the gory and vampiric nature involved.\u00a0 Such practices include cannibalism, sacrifice, and how the dead were buried before modern advances.\u00a0 Hence, one can safely gather that vampirism or vampires are a direct result of culture and scientific misunderstanding. Vampires are immortal creatures who feed off the blood of the living, and blood is the key factor in all origins of vampire folklore.\u00a0 Some argue that the soul lives within the blood or more simply put, it is the source of all life.\u00a0 Also, if one can die when one loses blood, one could logically think that drinking blood would bring about life.\u00a0 Due to such ideas, many ancient cultures implemented sacrifices, rituals, and sometimes entire lives around the substance (Masters 4). When someone hears the word cannibalism, most societies see horrific images of individuals ripping at human flesh.\u00a0 What could be considered even more disturbing is the fact that people have been eating each other for centuries.\u00a0 After all, man is a carnivorous animal, and unless you are a sworn vegetarian, people hunger for meat (Masters 5).\u00a0 Ancient societies viewed other humans as foodstuffs, and the aversion to such a taboo today is no different than Semitic people thinking pig and dog are unclean to eat (6).\u00a0 However, the eating of flesh is comparatively irrelevant to vampirism except for one common theme.\u00a0 The transfer of a life source from the dead to the living was essential.\u00a0 Blood was licked from spears, and hands went unwashed just so the blood could be licked off later.\u00a0 Thus, one can see how cannibalism could have morphed into a blood fetish (7). Sacrifice and ritual are common practices in most religions.\u00a0 Appeasing the spirits and gods are one reason such practices are performed.\u00a0 The completion of magical workings could be considered another.\u00a0 So, it is no surprise that ancient cultures used the same concepts in their daily lives.\u00a0 Those who were responsible for starting vampire folklore were those involving the sacrificing of a victim.\u00a0 This victim was a trade-off for a favor from a god or used to make peace with a deity.\u00a0 The victim could be an animal, or the devotee could quite literally offer a part of himself in the form of a severed finger or hair.\u00a0 Blood began to replace such measures, and only a couple of drops of blood from a worshipper would suffice.\u00a0 On the other hand, the sacrifice of others was more common. Individuals in high standing would permit criminals to be presented as offerings to the gods, or they would use sacrifice as a means of substituting someone else to take the place of their plights.\u00a0 One of the best examples of such sacrifice is when the Aztecs chose to pour the blood of their victims into their idols\u2019 mouths (Masters 11).\u00a0 In all manners of sacrificial victims, then, life force was essential in completion of the task, and blood became the center of this life force. Along with cultural influences, lack of scientific knowledge helped to form the vampire lore understood now.\u00a0 One of the greatest influences on this lore is how the dead were prepared for burial long before embalming became commonplace.\u00a0 When a body decays without any preservation or embalmment, the following will occur: * The body will turn different colors depending upon the gases and infections involved.\u00a0 Blues, reds, and dark greens will be prevalent (Barber 105). * The body will swell up to possible massive proportions and one of the most noticeable areas will be the abdomen.\u00a0 The swelling is a result of the gases expelled from the decaying process. * Blood or blood stained fluid escape the mouth and nostrils (106). * The body may decay at any rate depending upon the environment it is placed in at the time.\u00a0 Environmental factors include presence of air, moisture, microorganisms, temperatures, and insects (107). * Hair will slip away from the scalp, and the skin will begin to slough away.\u00a0 These consequences of decay make the body appear to have grown new hair or new nails (109). While there are other visual effects seen as a result of decay, one can quickly understand just how the listed characteristics alone could cause alarm to someone who would stumble upon such a body.\u00a0 Furthermore, it was not unusual for people to be buried alive because comas and other medical conditions were not understood (99).\u00a0 Scavengers, either animal or human, were also known to disturb gravesites, and any movement would appear suspicious to the uneducated and superstitious (125).\u00a0 Consequently, as a result of all this simple scientific misunderstanding, people were once quick to point to the presence of vampires. Vampire folklore is a direct result of ancient and past cultures trying to survive according to their standards or due to their misunderstanding of scientific processes.\u00a0 Cannibalism and sacrifice exposed people to the concept of life force transfer from the dead to the living.\u00a0 The handling of a human body after death before modern techniques were established added to the vampire idea.\u00a0 Hence, because of ancient societies’ lack of scientific knowledge and sophistication, vampire folklore was fostered and began to grow into the cult phenomenon we know today. Works Cited Barber, Paul.\u00a0 Vampires, Burial, and Death:\u00a0 Folklore and Reality.\u00a0 New Haven:\u00a0 Yale University Press, 1988. Masters, Anthony.\u00a0 The Natural History of the Vampire.\u00a0 London:\u00a0 Rupert Hart-Davis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ltd, 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1220"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1244,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions\/1244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}