Slavic folk ways of identify and eliminate vampire

Imagine being isolated from the world, the dead of a small village in Eastern Europe, which is home to only a few farmers with their families, the Miller, the blacksmith, a couple of merchants, Yes, maybe a priest.

From time to time through the village that, sometimes, walks or drives a soldier. And in the surrounding forest, may, lives an old witch, a wise the wise woman-the wise woman or hermit. And everyone knows what they are doing, but few attend to this until suddenly, quite inexplicably begin to die people. And very often, instead of to suspect any disease (such as popular in those early years the plague), people are beginning to remember the ancient stories about people killing vampires.

"Vampire grave" in Bulgaria. In it, researchers found a human skeleton sticking between the ribs with a metal ploughshare from the plough. And his left leg below the knee was found away from the other parts of the skeleton the First step towards the elimination of the alleged vampire — recognition of blood-sucking criminal. There was even a special vampire hunters possessing "supernatural powers to resist them."

According to some beliefs, distinguish vampires could people born on Saturday. Well, besides of course always been guesswork on the topic of who in the village could be a vampire. Not was there is buried some strange type before began Pomor? Wasn't there something strange on someone's funeral? Sometimes people remember or pay attention to the smallest detail, and any of them can tell who actually can not rest in his grave. To ensure the loyalty of their loss, the villagers can spend the churchyard a white horse. If he refuses to step over someone's grave, then the dead man lying in it — a vampire.

And the only question is, what to do with him. Someone asked the witch. The other will go for advice to the priest. If the village at the moment will be on leave soldiers, farmers can go for help to him. The witch scattered twigs of hawthorn, a bit of millet, a bit of garlic, rearrange the furniture or plant a sunflower next door. The priest will say some prayers, sprinkle Holy water on the ground around the grave. The soldier will stick his sword into the grave and spend the night camping the graveyard.

Why garlic? One of the reasons why people thought that garlic repels vampires, lay in the fact that the bloodsuckers in their minds was associated with disease-causing, according to some people, the smell of death or supernatural diseases, carriers of which many believed to be vampires. Because the smell of garlic drowned out the terrible smell of death (decomposition), associated with vampires, people thought that he has power over by the vampires themselves. In folk tales or fairy tales about vampires bloodsucker normally identifies and destroys one of the villagers or soldiers, and then quietly and happily living out his days. Soldiers could secretly steal the coffin of the vampire and not to give it to before sunrise, when the rays of the rising sun will bring death to the bloodsucker. Or vampire plague through a series of improbable but effective magical rituals.

Sometimes during the funeral of vampires were nailed to the ground so they ran out In the tales and legends of the victims of vampires, happen, enliven, pouring the blood back into the same wound, from which it is sucked by the vampire, or watering with the blood of their remains. Either they bring the coffins out of the house and sneaked through the underground passages — slain germinate on the surface of the earth flowers that then become real people. Sometimes the wise hermit tells the villagers where to find a lizard with a magic grass in his mouth, able to restore to life people who died through the fault of the bloodsuckers. To revive their victims can smoke from burning on the embers of a piece of vampiric shroud. But one thing tales, and quite another if the vampire is the result of superstition. Then people worry much more. They hope that a vampire will kill a vampire hunter or be eaten by a wolf. Only now is this possible?

Tales of fairy tales, especially that they always have a happy ending, but real life can cause people to be tormented with doubts. Often people are multiply their everyday fears and concerns, they find themselves with superstition, and superstitions about vampires. Many it begins to seem that the following should die they. They have auditory and visual hallucinations, they feel worse and worse. And then they resort to more aggressive actions. They dig vampires.

Massacre of a vampire Digging the grave of the alleged vampire, the villagers often become amazed to find the body is not decomposing and pink (for the newly buried is normal). Even more of a shock they experience when they see it poured blood (incipient decomposition). Is that a vampire lies in the coffin face down or the face of other signs of movement. On the shroud of the vampire can be different traces his "life". Ways of killing villagers with vampires in such cases vary in degree of severity. Sometimes, they try to prevent him out of the coffin, beat the shroud to its bottom, and sometimes can and pieces to chop up the body and coffin of a vampire. Sometimes they lay in a coffin different items, not giving the vampires "roam", — nails, coins, Flaxseed or fish nets. If the corpse was found lying face down, it flips back. But if he was lying as it should, it can, on the contrary, flip down face.

More drastic methods include pererezali tendons in the legs of a corpse or beheading, usually with a shovel. Then the mouth of the dead man often stuffed with garlic, which is put on the feet of a vampire. And, of course, the good old way — with a stake through the heart of the bloodsucker stake. In the traditional legend gives preference to hawthorn. Sometimes remove and burn the heart of a vampire, but things happen, and all the other inside him. And you can burn all the body of the vampire, ashes /ashes/ to feed his living relatives to protect them from harm or to prevent them turning into vampires. You might get the impression of the vampire - a stake pierced, clipped wires, gutted, beheaded, and cremated - you can forget forever. As it is not so! In one story about a vampire tells that in the womb of the drinkers can be birds, snakes, and maggots. And when a vampire is burned, the villagers have to keep your eyes open in order not to overlook any of these creatures - after all, the vampire can move into one of them and escaping to freedom under her mask, to avoid punishment! After killing the vampire in his grave often destroyed from the face of the earth. Or the bones left after cremation, sprinkle with wine and burn again. All these actions sometimes can even lead priest.

Some of the Slavs who migrated to Germany, there is a legend about a creature called, doppelsauger (dual leech). If the child is first take, and then again to return to the mother's breast, he, even when we become adults, will never be satisfied and will search the chest to get the food, even when it is already in the grave, after his death, trying to suck his own chest! According to popular belief, in doing so, he weakens the rest of his living relatives. To prevent this, either put in the mouth of a dead man a coin, or between its mouth and the chest - some kind of barrier. If these precautions were not followed, should dig up the body and cut off his head!

According to the materials of the book of Jay Stevenson's "Vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts"

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»