� 2001-2006 by Shiloh
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| You are "Face with Glasses" |
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I just thought it was amusing and...apt. I wear glasses. So, even as a Japanese smiley I'm pegged aright.
After last night I wanted to do a bit more with my favorite horror, go more in depth with a few legends and tales. As far back as the beginning of the human race there have been tales of a demon-like creature who drinks the blood of the living. In Hebrew legend the creature--or first vampire--is Lilith. According to this myth, she was Adam's first wife...and his equal. She refused to meekly obey him and rebelled against him, fleeing the Garden of Eden for the shores of the Red Sea. As punishment for mating with demons and refusing to go back home, Lilith was cursed to drink the blood of others.
Every culture throughout time has had its own version and lore of vampires. In Ancient Greece they were called nosferatu, meaning "plague-carrier." Empusas, a nosferatu, was supposedly a servant to the Witch Queen Hecate.
In Arabia the Algul is a female demon who drinks the blood of dead babies and lives in cemeteries.
The Baobhan-sith is Scotland's version. They are beautiful maidens in long dresses of green who lure their male victims to their deaths. (Hmmm, an idea for an entry for another day. Must make quick note of it.)
In India the Brahmaparush not only drink their victims' blood, but eat their brains as well. Then, having finished their meal the Brahmaparush wrap their victims' intestines around themselves and dance.
Germany has a child vampire, the Doppelsauger. A child becomes one when they're are nursed again after being weaned. Once they become a Doppelsauger they enjoy eating the breasts of a relative. (Watch out Mama, Aunt Ermengarde and Cousin Hilda!)
And let's not forget the most famous vampire of them all: the Transylvanian Dracula! The frightening, suave, mysterious, otherworldly handsome Prince of the Night. The one vampire most are drawn to, the one most vampires are now modeled after in movies and books. The one based on a real man, on legends and pure invention.
Despite their different habits and characteristics, the vampiric traits never change. All drink blood. All have to return to their homeland's earth to sleep, and they must sleep during the day. Of course, there are many ways to kill a vampire.
These creatures are fantasy, myth, legends. Products of superstition and over-active imaginations. It is the more real, more tangible, mortal "vampires" that are...or were...the ones people needed to fear, for they were truly the most evil and diabolical of all vampires. I'm talking about Vlad the Impaler and the Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory.
Vlad was fascinated with and perfected the art of impaling. He would dip his bread in the blood of his enemies and eat. The Countess was equally morbid and sinister. She was so vain and believed fully in any rejuvenating properties virgin blood may have. She killed hundreds and thousands of virgin girls, bathing in their blood, hoping to remain eternally young and beautiful. (I think this is where the agelessness of vampires comes from--from the Countess of Bathory.)
All in all, what I have shared depicts a gruesome and vile picture of vampires. And in truth it's not pretty or romantic at all. Humanity can be twisted, supicious, distrustful of anything it doesn't know about or understand. It can be cruel and sadistic...black-hearted. Thus, it is so easy to invent such a creature to put the blame on. A vampire. A creature that walks the night, neither living nor completely dead, forced to drink the blood of the living to survive.
The vampire, I think, has undergone a Renaissance of its own. No longer feared due to superstition of long ago, the vampire is viewed in a new accepting light. Vampires are now cool. Just look at Angel, the latest vampire show, or look up The Little Vampire. In these the vampires are the good guys. Just read one of Anne Rice's or L.J. Smith's books. People, though still fascinated by them, are no longer afraid of vampires. Vampires are good. Perhaps tragic, cursed souls as I said last night, but even they to some people, deserve happiness.
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moon phase |
