hrvatski

Vampiri u dubrovačkim selima 18. stoljeća

The myth of a vampire can be found in many civilisations from Antiquity to Modern Ages. A vampire or a werewolf is a person who rises from a grave after his or her own death. In many mythologies this creature changes into the form of a wolf, sometimes some other beast ; what is common in all beliefs is that the vampire has insatiable desire for the taste of human flesh and blood. A main capacity of the vampire is bloodsucking. Beliefs in vampires were basicaly of Slavic origin, although eigteenth-century public opinion connected them to Hungary. We can find many traces of this myth in Croatian lands, where there have overlapped many different traditions and folklors, such as Mediterranean, Central European and Balkan. First mention of vampires in Croatia is from the Middle Ages. Eughteenth-century judicial documents from Dubrovnik document not only the existance of this belief: they also show the attitude of the State and the Church towards this phenomena. Fragments of these documents enrich our knowledge about the local folklore in this area: people who “became vampires” had usually died under irregular circumstances, such as being excommunicated or unbaptised. There were many ways to flight against those creatures ; the most common was to exhume the (undecayed) body of the vampire from the grave and to pierce it with pole. The myths of vampires have very ancient roots, and it is very interesting to follow the changes of their attributes which were caused by the changes in mentality and in legal pracitce of a certain period. This is, however, very difficult, as evidence of the belief is rare and often of different character. Examination of this phenomena aquires a detailed interdisciplinary approach.

vampiri; vukodlaci; povijest; etnologija; vjerovanja; Dalmacija; Dubrovnik

nije evidentirano