dubiously sane vampire ponderings

[ontology]

Interestingly, in all of the vampire stories I have come across, in whatever medium, none of them have ever given any thought as to why Christian symbols -- crosses, holy water, often churches themselves -- ward off vampires. To be fair I don't recall any scientific explorations of the fending-off power of garlic or silver or stakes (wooden or iron) or why vampires can't cross the threshold of a house uninvited*, either, but they don't have the same sort of -- hmm, significance. And I've never come across any stories in which a vampire recoiled from the Koran, or a Hindu idol, or the Star of David. But then there are also very few vampire stories set outside of a Western aesthetic.



* And because I think far too much, I keep thinking about how the particulars of that rule work. Vampires tend to make homes in abandoned buildings (all right, sometimes their own seemingly abandoned homes), and if the building is abandoned, does that stop the whatever-it-is that requires an invitation? What if someone's crept off the street to sleep in an abandoned building for a night, and a vampire attempts to enter? Does the building or house have to be specifically in someone's possession? And what sort of buildings can't they enter? Homes, all right, absolutely; and usually churches, too, but for different reasons. But what about businesses? If a vampire took a notion to attend the theatre, would he have to finagle some way of being invited inside? Most of the stories that mention the invitation requirement stop with houses and don't seem to give a thought to other buildings, so presumably the rules are different, but how, and why? Can vampires enter the homes of other vampires without being invited? How does one, or can one, un-invite a vampire? (When Angel went evil, they changed the locks, but I'm not sure that fits in with how I see magic, as such, working.) At what point does spending a great deal of thought on the inner workings of fictional universes border on getting one institutionalised? Is there any hope for me? Will I ever run out of question marks? Is it less mad if it can count as novel research?

Comments

[charismitaine.livejournal.com]

I've seen several things that suggest that it is not the symbol that deters the vampire, but the faith that is represents (Stephen King popularized this idea, I know, but I don't think that it originated with him). So if you don't believe in the power behind the symbol, then it won't do you any good. I have read that garlic was believed to be a protective talisman all through Europe, and not limited to vampires, possibly because it was also believed to be a preventative medicine. Wikipedia says that "the association of garlic to evil spirits may be based on the antibacterial, antiparasitic value of garlic, which could prevent infections that lead to delusions, and other related mental illness symptoms" and also mentions a Christian legend that "that after Satan left the Garden of Eden, garlic arose in his left footprint, and onion in the right".

I've also read different things about the whole 'inviting in' thing, and I think most people have adopted the idea (I know McKinley talks about it in Sunshine, but I've seen it elsewhere too) that what's important is the threshold--that it's the psychic energy that comes with an established household, putting your psychic imprint on a place by 'nesting', etc., and it's necessary to lower that psychic barrier by consciously allowing the vampire in. I'm not sure where this originated, though--I can't remember if it features in traditional lore (some of the things I'm read about early folklore center on the undead returning to their last place of residence and entering freely), or if it's even mentioned in Stoker's Dracula, since that's where the lore that's been perpetuated mostly comes from...

Of course, some things are modern additions to the legends, without a foundation in traditional lore, so there's not a rhyme to the reason, you might say--they looked good on camera and caught on, which is why we have vampires as sex symbols instead of weird, bloated looking people with hairy palms....

I'll ask my brother. He has many interested reference books on vampire lore!

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

I'd always half-wondered about the garlic, but there are so many strange food-related anti-supernatural superstitions (the one that comes to mind is detecting a changeling by brewing beer in an eggshell), so it's sort of par for the course, so to speak.

(Reading about vampires on Wikipedia. I suddenly have an insatiable need to make fun of Lord Byron. It comes from time to time; it will pass. :p)

I very much like the psychic imprint concept; it suits my ideas of magic's mechanisms, and it suits the vaguely conceptualised world of my maybe-novel.

I'm very fond of the attractive vampire trope, , because I like that the evil isn't immediately obvious as such, and people going "aaaah, a vampire!" as they might say "aaah, a rat!" (okay, a really big, vicious rat that will kill you, painfully) and running away makes for a very flat story. :p Actually, I think I find that I like vampires to appear relatively like normal people (except...spookier, and prone to archaic speech patterns, and so far I have only ever read one book that mentioned the effect extreme longevity might be expected to have on a vampire's language, and that one was protagonist-ed (can I use protagonist as a verb? :p) by a PHILOLOGIST, and I spent quite a lot of the book making little squeaky language-geek noises), at least if they try hard enough, because the idea of The Horrible Thing That Could Be Amongst Us is more fun than it really has any right to be.

Also, I would be utterly thrilled at any book recommendations, because Amazon is sort of rubbish as a resource. :p (Parenthesis therapy would be nice, too.)

[charismitaine.livejournal.com]

As far as vampire novels, definitely read Dracula, and definitely read Sunshine if you haven't already (of course McKinley added her own stuff to the usual folklore, but it's just an awesome book anyway). If you're interested in being true to traditional lore don't read Anne Rice and stay far the heck away from that Twilight crap (not that I didn't read the whole book in one sitting. I did. And as soon as I was done with it and no longer in the world of the book I sat back and said 'well that's note a healthy thing for thirteen year olds to base their romantic fantasies on!'). And (people are going to scowl at me for this) but don't look to Buffy or Angel either. Whedon just made up his own vampire stuff, mostly, and it has only a surface relation to folklore, which has kind of been a barrier to me liking it (also I've never had the first season of Buffy, so I never had the chance to get into it at all. But I have watched Angel and I can tell you that the lore is iffy).

For actual reference books I need to give my brother a call--when I want to know something mostly I just call Brad o.0 Vampires are one of his particular areas of interest, so he knows a lot more than I do. He can go on about it at length, and has all kinds of fascinating, obscure knowledge, so he'll know more about the origins of legends and such, and can give you the names of the best reference books--I shall report back! And if you have the History channel and they're doing a lot of reruns, keep your eyes open for their special on vampires--they were airing it non-stop, it felt like, a few months ago, and they seem to cycle these things. It's interesting, if overly theatrical *cough*