Chapter II: Origins of the European Vampire
-For almost one hundred years Dracula has been our arch anti-hero, the embodiment of all that is evil
-Yet the origins of this monster are known to no one
-Vampirism and many of the attendant customs and beliefs depicted in the novel are drawn from Slavic folklore
-It was not until the mid 19th century that folkorists first attempted to analyze the Slavic vampire
-Story of “Death at the Wedding”- “The bonfire was ablaze and the sorcerer also began to burn. His belly burst open and from it vipers, worms, and vermin slithered out. Crows, magpies, and daws also flew out. The peasants beat them and threw them back into the fire. They did not allow even one maggot to crawl away. Thus was the sorcerer cremated.” (This was one passage Perkowski highlighted during lecture)
-Story “Bucket of Blood”
-Although we possess scant knowledge of the pre-Christian religions of the ancient Slavs, there is little doubt that they were sun worshippers
-The Slavs and Iranians, as closely related branches of Indo-European, doubtless share a core of ancient Indo-European religious concepts and vocabulary
-Receptivity to Iranian religious influences continued to the 15th century AD and it is here that the Slavic vampire cult originated
-Although several Slavic states officially adopted Christianity for a rather long time, especially among the East and Balkan Slaves there existed a state of “dual faith” in which Christianity existed side by side with the older Slavic religion, whose gods were now perceived as devils
-The period of Slavic settlement in the Balkan peninsula lasted from the middle of the 5th century to the middle of the 7th century. Immediately preceding their arrival two world religions had spread throughout the Roman Empire: Christianity and Mithraism, a sect of Iranian origin.
-Two aspects of this religions are of interest to us here: its dualistic qualities and the symbol of the sun in its cosmological scheme, since these two elements reappear, to a greater or lesser degree, in each of the subsequent Iranian sects which reaches Europe and influences the Slavs
-The next Iranian cult to penetrate the Balkans is that of the Persian prophet, who died in 274 AD.
-During the 4th century his dualistic cult spread throughout the Roman Empire, supplanting the Mithraic Mysteries and challenging official Christianity.
-The first wave of Manichaeism, which spread throughout the whole Mediterranean world, flourished until the 7th century.
-The second wave from the 9th to 14th centuries spread through Southern and Central Europe from the Black Sea to the Atlantic
---->Especially took hold in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and Bosnia
---->It is at this time that the vampire cult arose among Slavs
-By the time the Slavs ahd completed colonization of the Blankans during the middle of the 7th century they had already been recipients of at least two waves of Iranian influence: the Scythians and the Samaritans.
-Upon arrival in the Balkans they once again came into contact with Iranian religious beliefs: the Mirthraic Mysteries and Manichaeism
-Second wave of Manichaeism swept through the Balkans at a time when Slaves were already present.
---->Came not as purely Iranian sect, but in the form of Chrtian heresy, whose basis was the persistent Iranian notion of dualism, in which evil has the same positive and ultimate quality as Good.
---->Two separate forces in world: God v. Satan, Good v. Evil, etc.
---->In this system man is dual: his soul is divine and his body is evil; Body serves as the tomb of the soul.
-Bogomilism then marks the 3rd and most crucial period of Iranian cult influence on the Slavs
-Influence of Iranian Cults on the Slaves table (p. 340)
-Catechetical description of death and burial (p. 341-343)
-We know that dualism was practiced by Slavs as far from the Balkans as the Baltic Sea
-Story of the “Vampire Epidemic” of the 18th century (p.345)
-Several dualist motifs appear in the Bogomil fragment:
---->An evil force-the vampire-hounding men and women and sapping their strength
---->an evil force active only at night
---->the migration of souls
---->the association of corpses with the evil force
---->symbolic interplay of water, fire, and earth
---->and the association of light (day) and fire with the god of Good.
-The piercing of the heart and removal of the head, seen as repositories of the emotions and the mind (soul) were perpetrated to exorcise the evil spirit or soul, which has been motivating the body to do evil.
-Three of the four elements occur: water (blood), earth, and fire.
-Story of “The Kudlak” (p.346-347)
-Origin of the word vampire must remain moot
*Thanks Chris Long*
-For almost one hundred years Dracula has been our arch anti-hero, the embodiment of all that is evil
-Yet the origins of this monster are known to no one
-Vampirism and many of the attendant customs and beliefs depicted in the novel are drawn from Slavic folklore
-It was not until the mid 19th century that folkorists first attempted to analyze the Slavic vampire
-Story of “Death at the Wedding”- “The bonfire was ablaze and the sorcerer also began to burn. His belly burst open and from it vipers, worms, and vermin slithered out. Crows, magpies, and daws also flew out. The peasants beat them and threw them back into the fire. They did not allow even one maggot to crawl away. Thus was the sorcerer cremated.” (This was one passage Perkowski highlighted during lecture)
-Story “Bucket of Blood”
-Although we possess scant knowledge of the pre-Christian religions of the ancient Slavs, there is little doubt that they were sun worshippers
-The Slavs and Iranians, as closely related branches of Indo-European, doubtless share a core of ancient Indo-European religious concepts and vocabulary
-Receptivity to Iranian religious influences continued to the 15th century AD and it is here that the Slavic vampire cult originated
-Although several Slavic states officially adopted Christianity for a rather long time, especially among the East and Balkan Slaves there existed a state of “dual faith” in which Christianity existed side by side with the older Slavic religion, whose gods were now perceived as devils
-The period of Slavic settlement in the Balkan peninsula lasted from the middle of the 5th century to the middle of the 7th century. Immediately preceding their arrival two world religions had spread throughout the Roman Empire: Christianity and Mithraism, a sect of Iranian origin.
-Two aspects of this religions are of interest to us here: its dualistic qualities and the symbol of the sun in its cosmological scheme, since these two elements reappear, to a greater or lesser degree, in each of the subsequent Iranian sects which reaches Europe and influences the Slavs
-The next Iranian cult to penetrate the Balkans is that of the Persian prophet, who died in 274 AD.
-During the 4th century his dualistic cult spread throughout the Roman Empire, supplanting the Mithraic Mysteries and challenging official Christianity.
-The first wave of Manichaeism, which spread throughout the whole Mediterranean world, flourished until the 7th century.
-The second wave from the 9th to 14th centuries spread through Southern and Central Europe from the Black Sea to the Atlantic
---->Especially took hold in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and Bosnia
---->It is at this time that the vampire cult arose among Slavs
-By the time the Slavs ahd completed colonization of the Blankans during the middle of the 7th century they had already been recipients of at least two waves of Iranian influence: the Scythians and the Samaritans.
-Upon arrival in the Balkans they once again came into contact with Iranian religious beliefs: the Mirthraic Mysteries and Manichaeism
-Second wave of Manichaeism swept through the Balkans at a time when Slaves were already present.
---->Came not as purely Iranian sect, but in the form of Chrtian heresy, whose basis was the persistent Iranian notion of dualism, in which evil has the same positive and ultimate quality as Good.
---->Two separate forces in world: God v. Satan, Good v. Evil, etc.
---->In this system man is dual: his soul is divine and his body is evil; Body serves as the tomb of the soul.
-Bogomilism then marks the 3rd and most crucial period of Iranian cult influence on the Slavs
-Influence of Iranian Cults on the Slaves table (p. 340)
-Catechetical description of death and burial (p. 341-343)
-We know that dualism was practiced by Slavs as far from the Balkans as the Baltic Sea
-Story of the “Vampire Epidemic” of the 18th century (p.345)
-Several dualist motifs appear in the Bogomil fragment:
---->An evil force-the vampire-hounding men and women and sapping their strength
---->an evil force active only at night
---->the migration of souls
---->the association of corpses with the evil force
---->symbolic interplay of water, fire, and earth
---->and the association of light (day) and fire with the god of Good.
-The piercing of the heart and removal of the head, seen as repositories of the emotions and the mind (soul) were perpetrated to exorcise the evil spirit or soul, which has been motivating the body to do evil.
-Three of the four elements occur: water (blood), earth, and fire.
-Story of “The Kudlak” (p.346-347)
-Origin of the word vampire must remain moot
*Thanks Chris Long*
