Dec
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The Vampire Myth – the how, where and when of it
December 8, 2009 | 2 Comments
The origins of the vampire myth goes back as far as mankind. Some of our most ancient writings that have been discovered by archeologists make reference to this creature. It would appear that ever since mankind has evolved into a sentient being there have been vampires.
Anthropologists will tell you that as a people a society goes through a series of discernible and crucial developmental stages that allows them to grow and develop. Examples of such stages are: tool use, development of language, permanent settlements, domestication of animals, religious dogmas, and law with a punishment system. What is interesting about the vampire as far as mythological creatures goes is that although every single society that we know to have ever existed has had a vampire myth the point at which this mythology enters into society varies greatly depending on what the people value the most.
In ancient Assyria and Babylon the vampire that was feared was said to be a female, demonic being that fed upon children. Said to be fast and strong it was unabashed in its destruction for human life. Taken as a whole and without a thoughtful explanation this ancient, mythological creature sounds no more terrifying than the ogre in the Three Billy Goats Gruff fairy tale, However, I find that once an explanation is given to the vampire and it is describe in context to the people who had the need to invent such a being it truly is a magnificently horrifying beast.
The Assyrians knew that blood meant life, and they realized that, generally speaking, a woman’s menstrual cycle was in rhythm to the cycles to the moon’s waxing and waning. With some careful observation it could be determined when a woman is more likely than not to conceive a child. When this connection was made, the giving of life in synch with the phases of the moon, other significant, life giving events were put in time to this lunar cycle, events such as when to plant their crops and when to harvest them. Additionally, wars were not fought during these times as manpower was needed to successfully both plant and later on harvest. Wars were waged only in their season as well. Add to this that women are the only ones who can conceive and deliver a child, the only source of life giving that people have. No matter how else women may have been treated or regarded by their society, only they could produce the next generation of people. Now, knowing that women were perceived as the vessels of life and that blood was seen as a sacred and significant fluid, one that dictated when plants were harvested and wars fought is it any wonder that the vampire, the opposite of life, was so especially horrific?
Assyrian vampires, often called lilats (an early version of the more familiar vampiric being known as Lamia or the even more commonly known Lilith) had to be demonic beings from some other world, as no person of this one would ever kill, let alone savage a child pointlessly. To be female made them doubly evil, as women are the givers of life, not the takers of it. And to make it even more obvious how diabolical these being are they drank blood, consumed in mass by choice what human women gave away freely each month. The lilats were in every way the very antisepsis of life giving women: life taking demons.
So in ancient Assyria, vampires entered in the people’s mythology very early on. From the earliest days of their society the vampire was with them. However, this is hardly the case with the people of the Andes Mountains. There they did not have any such being in their mythology or religion. That is until the Spanish Conquistadores came into the region and conquered their lands. Suddenly, there was a need for a vampiric being.
Although it is know by several names, the kharisiri, the lik’ichiri, the liquichiri, the nakaq and the pishtaco, it is really nothing more culturally speaking than a common “nursery bogey” which mirrors the darker side of the Latino male persona. Described as being tall, white and exceptionally well endowed, this vampire preys off of the blood and body fat of children. The Nazca people would tell their children to never speak or have anything to do with people matching this description, (i.e.: strangers) as their body would be hacked apart and eaten. Modern Andeans tell their children the same, except that their organs will be harvested and sold off piecemeal to wealthy Americans or to locally buy church bells, machine oil and to build up wealth to pay off the country’s national debt. What this tells me is that the people of this region are more afraid of losing their cultural identity and ethnicity than anything else. If the children are slain there will be no one to carry on their beliefs and customs into a new generation. And because the vampires of this region are described as “tall, white American men” who are “enormously endowed” it can only be because the local men of this region of the world are especially and disproportionately fearful of losing their women to foreigners. If the women marry outside their race and leave the community they will not only diminish their ethnic bloodlines but also not raise these children among their own kind where customs and tradition are naturally handed down generation after generation.
Knowing the past and the vampires that originated there what can we deduce about the vampires of modern times and what they tell us about ourselves? As a mythological being the vampire is most like us humans and in many cultures is a reflection of its people. We make it into that which most terrorizes and repels us.
The vampires of today can pass for human; they are dark and brooding, decidedly handsome with more than enough money to spend in 10 lifetimes. Yet they are alone and seek out a companion, someone to love and be loved by, even though it is not “right.” Once this love is found and reciprocated the “couple” must then inevitable defend themselves against other vampires or humans-oftentimes both.
This vampire is a self-made loner, isolated from the world. It cannot live with its own kind because it adamantly opposes what “they” stand for (reveling in blood) nor can it rejoin the world it once lived in (because it will be greatly misunderstood, feared and killed). Yet, in spite of itself it presses on through the drudgery of its existence until it finds love, a human, a person of life and light that renews the vampire. This “forbidden love” is an archetypical and reoccurring theme. Traditionally it has always ended badly for the lovers no matter how bravely they fought, how long they held out, or desperately loved one another. However in our modern times the once star-crossed lovers are lucky enough to be given the happy ending. Why? Because we as a people are so tired of our own sense of personal isolation and raging against the tide we just want to feel a connection with another person, have an ally in our cause and get what we feel we deserve.
I am often times asked “why is the vampire so popular?” to which I give some variation of the above information. “How long will it last?” That depends on us now doesn’t it? I feel that when the vampire and its human companion return back to their roles as the traditional star-crossed lovers where one or both of them die for their love then we will have seen the beginning of the end of this “sudden” interest in the vampire (and I mean “death” as in the final and ultimate death, not where the human becomes undead to remain with its heart’s desire).This will only happen when we as a people manage to work through whatever it is that is causing out feelings of isolation and being unloved to pass.
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It may take quite awhile before the “romantic” vampire is retired from the media and books. After all we are in the 21st Century yet there are the modern equivalent of Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester, Pride and Prejudice’s Mr Darcy and Sense and Sensibility’s Colonel Brandon roaming about novels and films. There is just something about angst that woman are drawn to but that doesn’t exactly explain the appeal to men. I guess men cast themselves in the role of the tortured misunderstood one or the predator. Who knows?
I do not know why people decided to associate vampires with romance. From all the folkore, they seem to be deadly. But mostly any book or story about a vampire has some sort of love affair, weather it works out or it ends in tragedy.