Isn't there a vampire thing were they knock and if you say "come in!" they're allowed to do whatever they want? Or is that another mythical creature thing?
I believe the myth is that vampires cannot cross the threshold of a home without an invitation. Though Iirc there's also myths of them being unable to cross knotted ropes/strings, and running water
So any water? Doesn't have to be holy water? It makes sense when it seems related to Christian symbols. Makes me wonder what other vampires from other places are weak too, are other religious symbols just as effective? I don't want it to get political or any of that jazz but I think it's interesting where all these things come from
@popsy it depends on the myth. Some say they can, some say they can't. Similar with the invitation-- some say they can't enter a home at all without invitation, others say they can, and others say only very powerful vampires can, but they effectively weaken themselves a great deal by doing so. I also remember reading once a very long time ago that vampires may have actually had origins as spirits, and the myth eventually morphed into something more distinctive. The knots mythology is largely based on German lore iirc.
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It all has kind of blended together or gotten lost over time
@parisqeen I believe most of the vampire-water myths are related to baptism, but not all the myths say that the water has to have been blessed or made holy in some other way for a vampire to find it repugnant
@popsy it's didn't, actually, though that's a common rumour, and the myth DID get influenced by it. Iirc there's tales from Ireland that are more likely to be the inspiration for Dracula. But the myths of vampires (or creatures that likely inspired them) predate both of those, though how old exactly they are I couldn't say
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· 5 years ago
I have have question, does only Christian religious things work on Vampires or other religious things have the same effect? Like imagine if a vampire went to Middle East, then what?
@spookykink57@parisqeen Bearing in mind I'm not an expert, but As far as I know the use of religious symbolism depends entirely on where the particular vampire myth originates from. The rumours of demons and unread that could qualify has vampiric in nature existed for a very long time, likely due to peoples' misunderstanding about death and decomposition etc. It's only natural that in places where catholicism dominated the rumours would eventually get addressed by the church.
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Interestingly enough in a lot of myths the use of specific religious symbols (such as the cross) hold very little weight. The effectiveness of any object against a vampire depends entirely on the faith the wielder has-- both in God, and in the objects ability to represent him/their faith. Crucifixes naturally would become common symbols against vampires since they're so closely associated with Jesus, but from what I can tell, for all intents and purposes you could pick up a spoon and it would be equally as effective if the wielder's faith in it willed it to be so. Similarly, a person with no faith in God could cover themselves with crucifixes and they would have no effect against "the damned" (<- which is what a lot of vampires and demons were believed to be)
The further you move away from places with heavy religious influences, or the farther back you go, the less these beliefs have any play in vampire mythology.
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The Nachzerer (German) were believed to be more cannibalistic than blood-thirsty, for example, but it was believed that the way to stop them was to remove names from the clothing of the dead to prevent them from becoming Nachzerer. Alternatively, you could fill their mouths with bricks, or a coin, or soil, which would render them paralysed and unable to eat anything. Cutting off their heads was also advised. Putting flowers in the mouth of a corpse, however, had the potential to cause someone to become a Nachzerer.
One of the Irish tales believed to have contributed to the creation of Dracula has to do with a horrific man who tormented the people he ruled over until eventually he was slaughtered. He was buried in a standing position, but returned to life and escaped, wreaking havoc once again. They eventually defeated and buried him a second time with the same result. Eventually a druid was consulted and told them to bury him head-first, which they did, and this solved the problem
Just to expand on the "decomposing of bodies" thing, while there are other possible contributing factors, it's believed a large part of where the whole "the dead coming alive to drink the blood of humans" comes from has to do with the way organs decompose after death. Without getting into too much gory detail, part of the decomposition process of organs often causes a dark, bloody fluid to be pushed out from the mouth and nose of corpses known as "purge fluid."
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When disease was more common and proper burials were infinitely less so (or took longer), people had a good deal more interaction with corpses than a lot of us do these days. Additionally, hungry animals would often come and pick at corpses in the night, even digging up shallow Graves at times
You can imagine how leaving a body somewhere, only to pass by it some time later to discover it's nails seem to have grown, it's mouth is bloody, and there are now bite marks on it's body-- or even the bodies of others nearby (mass Graves were not uncommon in places with larger populations and greater spread of disease) might cause some people already in very grim circumstances to start believing the worst.
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Of course, as I said, this is far from the only factors that have contributed to myths of the dead rising to feed off the living
...ok I know WHY it's a weakness but it's still stupid
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It all has kind of blended together or gotten lost over time
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The Nachzerer (German) were believed to be more cannibalistic than blood-thirsty, for example, but it was believed that the way to stop them was to remove names from the clothing of the dead to prevent them from becoming Nachzerer. Alternatively, you could fill their mouths with bricks, or a coin, or soil, which would render them paralysed and unable to eat anything. Cutting off their heads was also advised. Putting flowers in the mouth of a corpse, however, had the potential to cause someone to become a Nachzerer.
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When disease was more common and proper burials were infinitely less so (or took longer), people had a good deal more interaction with corpses than a lot of us do these days. Additionally, hungry animals would often come and pick at corpses in the night, even digging up shallow Graves at times
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Of course, as I said, this is far from the only factors that have contributed to myths of the dead rising to feed off the living