Vampires Around The World10:16 Jun 29 2007
Times Read: 547
The vampire, in our Western culture, has become a stock horror film or gothic novel character, mostly stripped of all its air of mystery. There are few among us who are not familiar with the ways to exterminate the undead - sunlight or a wooden stake through the heart. We know garlic keeps them at bay. We also know they crave human blood and search for it at night. However, we may not know that the vampire has a life outside Western entertainment. Though the word "vampire" is derived from the Slavic language, the idea of an animated corpse that feeds on blood is surprisingly common throughout the world, though the nature and appearance of the vampire changes dramatically from region to region.
In China there exists a creature in folklore known as the chiang-shih. Though not identical to North American and European ideas of vampires, similarities do exist. Chiang-shih are re-animated corpses, who due an improper burial or unsettled business begin to lurk about in the world of the living. Armed with fangs and claws they stalk their prey, though more interested in attacking in a beast-like manner than simply biting and draining blood. They take on a much more animal-like persona than do our Bela Lugosi film inspired vampires - rather than dressing elegantly and hypnotically luring their victims to their castles, they much more resemble the corpses they are.
The ancient Mayans and Aztecs of what is now Central America had their own myths relating to vampire like creatures, which is not surprising considering they shared their land with vampire bats. The lord of the underworld in Aztec mythology had vampiric aspects, though rather than feeding on the blood of the living he ate the spirits of the recently deceased. The Mayans told of the god of the caves, a part-bat part-human creature, called Camazotz. He was a particularly unsavoury character, and feared by the Mayan people - though not feared enough that he was not a popular subject for art, easily identified by his claws and rodent nose.
India, with its rich collection of mythic lore, certainly hosts a variety of terrible beings which can be thought of as vampires. Popular in Hindu literature are the rakshasas, who were nocturnal demons bent on disrupting human affairs. They participated in the standard vampire affair of drinking blood, and were blamed for the deaths of infants. Rama and Hanuman battled rakshasas in their struggle to free Sita from Ravenna's clutches as recorded in the Ramayana. The Hindu deity Kali has often been, perhaps unfairly, described as having vampire traits.
he indigenous people of Australia have their own vampire-like creatures - the yara-ma-yha-who. These beings, though not re-animated corpses, were interested in feeding on humans, usually regurgitating them after a while, hoping to catch them again later. After enough encounters the victims would slowly turn into yara-ma-yha-who themselves. Thus we find another theme in common with our vampires - the danger of becoming one.
Like the rakshasas of India, the ancient Romans blamed the deaths of infants on what we would describe as vampires - the Romans called them strix. Later the idea of witches who flew through the night and drank the blood of children would become widespread in the Roman empire, showing some similarities with our vampire myths.
The fascination with vampires is undeniable. The existence of evil creatures that lurk in the night is common in all cultures - it helps us to explain the apparent random evils that befall us. In times before an understanding of viruses and bacteria, we could explain unexplainable deaths with malicious monsters that lacked any compassion for human beings. Vampire myths also offer us insight into ancient concerns about death - when death occurs unnaturally or burial procedures are carried out incorrectly, serious side effects can occur. As well, we get an insight into our notions about blood. It is clear that most cultures understand the importance of blood to the survival of the human body, but that same blood holds a great deal of mystery and is easily mythologized. A vampire does the most damage when it feeds on the blood of a healthy, living individual - and in doing so, the monster is rejuvenated. Vampire myths tell us a lot about ourselves: what we wish to protect, and what we fear to lose.
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