Read Online Vampires Through the Ages by Brian Righi - Free Book Online
Authors: Brian Righi
Tags: History, Dracula, vampire, Monster, Mythical, energy, blood, Myth, fangs, Dead, Protection, Anne Rice, psychic vampire, lestat, bloodsucking, children of the night
Ads: Link
other parts of Britain over the years and that the only remedy was to burn the revenantâs body. The thought of burning the body seemed sacrilegious to the bishop, however, so he wrote a letter of absolution with his own hand and ordered it placed in the grave of the vampire. When the letter arrived back at the village, the manâs tomb was opened and the letter placed upon its chest, and thereafter he never appeared again.
A final tale to help drive the point home can be found in William Ralstonâs 1872 Songs of the Russian People , which despite its name is actually a book featuring some of the greatest examples of Slavic mythology, tradition, and folklore ever written. In one passage there is a brief tale about a terrible sinner who died one day and was taken to the local church so that a vigil could be kept over the body in preparation for burial. The sacristan who was to keep the watch and recite the psalms was a clever man and brought along a rooster with him. That night, as the twelfth hour approached, the corpse sprang from the coffin, and with its deadly jaws opened wide, rushed at the man. The sacristan quickly gave the bird a pinch, causing it to crow at that very moment. Thinking dawn had come, the vampire fell to the ground a motionless corpse.
Tales such as these played a role in the lives of the average European peasant that extended beyond mere storytelling. They also reinforced critical stereotypes the church wished to espouse, the most important of which was that the church could explain the existence of the creatures and knew how to dispose of them. Whether through divine prayer, absolution, the cold steel of an axe, or the cunning of the clergyman, the church was asserting its authority over the vampire. In almost every report or fragment of folklore to be found on vampires, one of the first things the frightened villagers do in each case is to enlist the aid of the local priest.
Excommunication
Even though both branches of the church seemed to develop a deep fascination with vampires and vampirism, the topic without a doubt found its most fertile ground in the domains of the Eastern Orthodox Church where pagan traditions still heavily influenced the people. One important circumstance that helped foster the belief in vampires was the churchâs doctrine that the fate of a personâs soul was inexorably linked to the condition and care of the body after death. In the Eastern Orthodox Church there were generally five prescribed types of funeral rites that could be performed depending on the deceasedâs station in life, which included services for laymen, children, monks, priests, and a special service for those buried during Bright Week, which is the week of Easter.
As discussed in the preceding chapter, funerary rites were closely observed to ensure the safety of the soul during its passage from the body to the afterlife, and any breach in the ritual could have dire consequences not only for the deceased but for the entire village. The process began with the corpse being ceremonially washed and anointed with sacred oils before being put on display in the home for a period of time. After the wake, the deceased was carried to the church, where services were conducted for the repose of the soul. The body was then placed in an anteroom of the church, where priests kept a vigil throughout the night reciting prayers and reading aloud from the Bible. The next morning a procession of mourners bearing crosses, flags, and censers of frankincense escorted the body to its final resting place, where more services were conducted and the coffin was lowered into the ground to be covered by dirt. Traditionally the church buried its dead facing the east towards the rising of the sun and then oriented the grave marker, which was usually a cross, at their feet rather than their head to ensure that the soul could pray facing the cross while it waited to be freed from the body.
After it lay in the
A final tale to help drive the point home can be found in William Ralstonâs 1872 Songs of the Russian People , which despite its name is actually a book featuring some of the greatest examples of Slavic mythology, tradition, and folklore ever written. In one passage there is a brief tale about a terrible sinner who died one day and was taken to the local church so that a vigil could be kept over the body in preparation for burial. The sacristan who was to keep the watch and recite the psalms was a clever man and brought along a rooster with him. That night, as the twelfth hour approached, the corpse sprang from the coffin, and with its deadly jaws opened wide, rushed at the man. The sacristan quickly gave the bird a pinch, causing it to crow at that very moment. Thinking dawn had come, the vampire fell to the ground a motionless corpse.
Tales such as these played a role in the lives of the average European peasant that extended beyond mere storytelling. They also reinforced critical stereotypes the church wished to espouse, the most important of which was that the church could explain the existence of the creatures and knew how to dispose of them. Whether through divine prayer, absolution, the cold steel of an axe, or the cunning of the clergyman, the church was asserting its authority over the vampire. In almost every report or fragment of folklore to be found on vampires, one of the first things the frightened villagers do in each case is to enlist the aid of the local priest.
Excommunication
Even though both branches of the church seemed to develop a deep fascination with vampires and vampirism, the topic without a doubt found its most fertile ground in the domains of the Eastern Orthodox Church where pagan traditions still heavily influenced the people. One important circumstance that helped foster the belief in vampires was the churchâs doctrine that the fate of a personâs soul was inexorably linked to the condition and care of the body after death. In the Eastern Orthodox Church there were generally five prescribed types of funeral rites that could be performed depending on the deceasedâs station in life, which included services for laymen, children, monks, priests, and a special service for those buried during Bright Week, which is the week of Easter.
As discussed in the preceding chapter, funerary rites were closely observed to ensure the safety of the soul during its passage from the body to the afterlife, and any breach in the ritual could have dire consequences not only for the deceased but for the entire village. The process began with the corpse being ceremonially washed and anointed with sacred oils before being put on display in the home for a period of time. After the wake, the deceased was carried to the church, where services were conducted for the repose of the soul. The body was then placed in an anteroom of the church, where priests kept a vigil throughout the night reciting prayers and reading aloud from the Bible. The next morning a procession of mourners bearing crosses, flags, and censers of frankincense escorted the body to its final resting place, where more services were conducted and the coffin was lowered into the ground to be covered by dirt. Traditionally the church buried its dead facing the east towards the rising of the sun and then oriented the grave marker, which was usually a cross, at their feet rather than their head to ensure that the soul could pray facing the cross while it waited to be freed from the body.
After it lay in the
Similar Books
