Vampire primarily from eastern European, Slavic folklore

"Slavs" means "people of the word"

Slavic languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish etc.

Slav: "word"

Ethno-centric way of viewing their own language

• Thought they had the one true language

Really only

Slavs are ethno-linguistic group

• Linked ethically + linguistically

German person: nyemets

• Literally means "the dummy"
• Thought Germans were stupid bc they spoke a diff language

Sources of Study

Slavic prehistory is difficult to study

Had no native writing sys

Have no early first-hand accounts of the Slavs

4 main sources of study

1. Historical sources
2. Outside writings about slavs by other ppl
3. Ppl who had contact about slavs w.o being slavic
4. Skewed bc they didn't understand the culture or were racist
5. Archaeology
6. Slavic grave sites, temple sites etc.
7. i.e. worshipped dead ancestors (like Day of the Dead)
8. Ethnography
9. Look at modern day ethnicity to try to interpret how things may have been done thousands of years ago
10. Many things haven't changed a lot
11. i.e. recipes, clothing
12. Linguistics
13. Important I
14. Slavic languages are all interrelated, used to be one language originally
15. One mother tongue
16. When they developed into diff cultures, became diff languages over time
17. If you know one Slavic language, it is easy to pick up on another
18. Allowed ppl to understand parts of the past

Carpathian Mountains

Where did the Slavs settle originally?

• Know they'd been in contact w. ancient Chinese
• Migrated west to E Europe to Carpathian Mountains
• Original Slavic homeland was roughly btwn modern Poland + Ukraine
• Found word for one type of tree is same in all Slavic languages, found the geography that matched that tree

Slavic Settlements

1. Personal level
2. Slavs lived jointly
3. Extensive family underr 1 roof
4. Rule of elders: respect your elders
5. Grandmother = babushka
6. Respect of elders is still present in modern day Slavic culture
7. Territorial level
8. Everything was held + used in common
9. Lived in communist utopia almost
10. Often migrated along rivers --> easy transport
11. Communal lifestyle
12. Economic Level
13. Primary concern was benefit of the whole over the individual
14. If one year a harvest didn't go well, everyone suffers
15. Benefit of whole was built into cultural mentality of slavs
16. Some areas they migrated to were very inhospitable at certain periods of the year
17. Suffering is good for you, dealing with it will make you a better person
18. Russian winter
19. The General Winter
20. Benefit of the whole so everyone has better chance of survival

Matriarchy

• Slavs were a matriarchy
• Women had primary positions of power
• Babushka is representation of old matriarchical traditions
• Peaceful
• No evidence of weaponry for warfare until after 476 AD
• Patriarchy eventually takes control in Slavic countries
• Bear + wolf: important animals in Slavic culture

First Slavic Migration

5 main things that contributed to this movement

1. Collapse of Roman Empire 476 AD
2. Western Rome (Italy) fell
3. Eastern Rome (Byzantines, Turkey lasted for much longer)
4. Rome was basically source of order in Europe
5. Collapse resulted in chaos, so Germanic tribes moved west
6. Germanic Tribes Move West into power vacuums
7. Slavs follwoed them west
8. Became aware of better areas
9. Primary building material was wood
10. Romans invented cement
11. Armed
12. Possible Climate Change
13. Series of volcanic eruptions around - 535 AD
14. Caused extended winter --> ruined agriculture
15. Caused further chaos

Caused matriarchy to lose control

Women in warfare weren't norm bc of difficulty of childbearing

Matriarchy became patriarchy bc of war

Lasted until 700 AD

Expanded into diff areas

Second Slavic Migration

1. Urbanization
2. Slavs began to urbanize
3. Become immigrants --> go to diff territories that had powerful cities
4. Cultural identity further altered
5. Borrowing + sharing of ideas
6. Populated Several Areas
7. Bulgaria
8. Encountered Bulgars, Turkish origin, shamanistic practices
9. Slavs + Bulgars = Bulgarians today
10. Moravia
11. Empire of Charlegmagne the Great, 1st Holy Roman Emperor, catholicism
12. Encountered Franks
13. Czech republic, Poland --> strong German/Frankish influence
14. Kiev
15. Kievan Rus was original Russian empire
16. Encountered Vikings/Varangians: pagan
17. Rus'
18. Origin of Russia
19. Slavic ppl called the vikings originally Rus
20. Means rowers bc the vikings rowed boats down the rivers
21. When vikings left, referred to territory as R (us

Slavs were originally hunter gatherer society (2500 - 100 BC)

• Always on the move, follow migrating animals, weather etc.
• Don't leave much behind
• Animism
• Everything has its own spirit
• Every stone, tree, animal etc.

Agrarian (100 BC - onward)

• Domesticated animals
• Don't have to worry about moving around, more time to do cultural things + think more
• Shamanism

Pagan Practices

1. Numinous place
2. i.e. Oracle at Delphi: go there to get your fortune told
3. Natural gas was coming out of rocks and the oracle was sniffing it, getting high
4. Location in the natural world that has something special/strange power to it that ppl don't understand originally
5. Slavs worshipped nature
6. When lightning struck a tree, it was a numinous place for Slavs
7. Soothsayer
8. Shaman figure
9. Someone special in the community
10. Link btwn human + spirit world
11. Can interpret many special things
12. Been born in special way, or have a birthmark or something
13. Very intelligent, had stronger sense of intiution probably
14. Volkhv = wolf-man/wolf pelt
15. Would wear skin of wolf
16. Wolf was seen as important symbol of power of nature; wore wolf pelts to absorb the power of nature
17. Spiritual forces
18. Numinous place has spiritual forces that can be interpreted by volkhv
19. Basically anything in nature
20. Worshipped the dead
21. Believed hailstorm was dead ancestors being angry
22. Gods
23. Spiritual forces must have powers above them that control them + dictate what to do
24. Perun: god of thunder + lightning
25. Probably original, not influenced by everything
26. Arrows were lightning bolts

Slavs were difficult to convert to Christianity

• Lack of writing system
• No way of transmitting Christian texts
• Slavic spoken languages were incredibly complex bc they had no writing system
• Don’t want to learn greek, latin or hebrew
• Church believed Christian text could only be transmitted in 3 holy languages: Greek, Latin, Hebrew (Aramaic)

Saints Cyril and Methodius (826 - 869, 815 - 885)

• Part of bynzantine empire
• Trying to convert slavic ppl

Patriarch Photios I (810/820 - 893):

863 AD: slavs get their 1st writing system --> glagolitic alphabet

• Supposed to be used for any Slavic language
• Was too complex
• Over time follwoers of St. Cyril + Methodius created cyrillic
• Multiple diff cyrillic alphabets

Slavs were also practicing dual-belief or dual-faith

• Would do Christian stuff but would also worship pagan practices
• Christian Church assimilated pagan beliefs into Christian bbeliefs
• Replaced old gods with saints
• Basically worship saints instead
• Other parts couldn't be incorporated but they let it persist
• House Spirit
• Domovoi
• Depicted as little old men, pointy ears, cloven hooves
• Lived near or around the stove
• Spirit of the house
• If you don't leave food out for him he would kill your cat or drink the blood/milk of your cow
• Forest Spirit
• Leshii
• One per forest, maybe more than one depending on size
• Responsible for sounds you hear at night
• Can control wolves, turn into snakes, trick you by turning into ppl you knew
• Steal your babies, especially if it’s a little girl --> eventually make them their wife
• Rusalka
• Mermaid like
• Undead, mangled corpse
• Shapeshifters
• Usually look like beautiful young girl
• Supposed to have perfect figure, ideal woman
• Really long, pale white hair, tinged in green
• Empty white spheres of death eyes
• Springtime
• Victims primarily young men, age to be married
• Rip heads off, drown you, tickle you to death
• Link to vampire
• Originally vampire could not be women
• Female equivalent of vampire
• Mostly girl of marriage age who died before she was married
• Girls not officially part of community until marriage
• Especially if they didn't have kids
• Representation of unused beauty + fertility
• Reinforce taboos: no sex before marriage
• Restless bc the girls didn't achieve marriage or children
• Could sometimes be positive
• Dew on the grass was from dripping hair of Rusalka
• Could be made happy
• Vampire = disease + death, nothing positive