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A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods which they inhabited while they were alive. They wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, markedly different from today's gaunt, pale vampire which dates from the early 19th century. Vampiric entities have been recorded in cultures around the world; the term vampire was popularized in Western Europe after reports of an 18th-century mass hysteria of a pre-existing folk belief in Southeastern and Eastern Europe that in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism. Local variants in Southeastern Europe were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania, cognate to Italian 'Strega', meaning Witch.
A jiāngshī, also known as a Chinese hopping vampire, is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. It is typically depicted as a stiff corpse dressed in official garments from the Qing dynasty, and it moves around by hopping with its arms outstretched. It kills living creatures to absorb their qi, or "life force", usually at night, while during the day, it rests in a coffin or hides in dark places such as caves. Jiangshi legends have inspired a genre of jiangshi films and literature in Hong Kong and East Asia. Although the pronunciation of jiangshi varies in different East Asian countries, all of them refer to the Chinese version of vampires.
The manananggal is a mythical creature in the Philippines that is able to separate its upper torso from the lower part of its body. Their fangs and wings give them a vampire-like appearance.
Witchcraft has been present throughout the Philippines even before Spanish colonization, and is associated with indigenous Philippine folk religions. Its practice involves black magic, specifically a malevolent use of sympathetic magic. Today, practices are said to be centered in Siquijor, Cebu, Davao, Talalora, Western Samar, and Sorsogon, where many of the country's faith healers reside. Witchcraft also exists in many of the hinterlands, especially in Samar and Leyte; however, witchcraft is known and occurs anywhere in the country.
A bomoh is a Malay shaman and traditional medicine practitioner. The term is used mainly in Malaysia and parts of Sumatra, whereas most Indonesians use the word dukun. It is often mistranslated into English as medicine man or witch doctor. In colloquial usage, the term bomoh is often interchangeable with another type of shaman or dukun, the pawang, but they generally serve different functions. The bomoh is primarily a healer, herbalist, geomancer, and sorcerer. The pawang on the other hand usually specialises in rituals involving weather, nature, animals, and a good harvest. Their roles do overlap, however, and both claim to act as intermediaries for the spirits and gods.
Vampires are frequently represented in popular culture across various forms of media, including appearances in ballet, films, literature, music, opera, theatre, paintings, and video games.
The penanggalan or penanggal is a nocturnal vampiric entity from Malay ghost myths. It takes the form of a floating disembodied woman's head, with its organs and entrails trailing from its neck. From afar, the penanggalan is said to twinkle like a ball of flame, similar to the will-o'-the-wisp phenomenon.
There are many Malay ghost myths, remnants of old animist beliefs that have been shaped by Hindu-Buddhist cosmology and later Muslim influences, in the modern states of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore and among the Malay diaspora in neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. The general word for ghost is hantu, of which there exist a wide variety. Some ghost concepts such as the female vampires pontianak and penanggal are shared throughout the region. While traditional belief does not consider all ghosts as necessarily evil, Malaysian popular culture tends to categorise them all as types of evil djinn.
An Alp is a supernatural being in German folklore.
The Yara-ma-yha-who is a legendary creature found in Southeastern Australian Aboriginal mythology. The legend is recounted by David Unaipon. According to legend, the creature resembles a little red frog-like man with a very big head, a large mouth with no teeth and suckers on the ends of its hands and feet.
Pelesit is a type of familiar spirit in Malay folklore. It is generally a cricket, or occasionally a grasshopper. The term literally means "buzzer" from the root word lesit meaning to buzz or whizz, as an insect does. They are also called Palasik.
The Hantu Raya is a type of familiar spirit in Malay folklore that acts as a double for black magic practitioners. Roughly meaning "great ghost", it is supposed to bestow great power onto its master. Its true form according to folktale is humanoid form with black hairy body except the facial area, rough grey skin, long sharp teeth and with red eyes.
Legends of vampires have existed for millennia; cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, ancient Greeks, and Romans had tales of demonic entities and blood-drinking spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. Despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity known today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early 18th-century Central Europe, particularly Transylvania as verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, but can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or a living person being bitten by a vampire themselves. Belief in such legends became so rife that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires.
The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as The True Blood Novels and The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris. The first installment, Dead Until Dark (2001), won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001 and later served as the source material for the HBO drama series True Blood (2008–2014). The book series has been retronymed the True Blood Series upon reprinting, to capitalize on the television adaptation.
Malaysian literature consists of literature produced in the Malay Peninsula until 1963 and in Malaysia thereafter. Malaysian literature is typically written in any of the country's four main languages: Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. It portrays various aspects of Malaysian life and comprises an important part of the culture of Malaysia.
Malay folklore refers to a series of knowledge, traditions and taboos that have been passed down through many generations in oral, written and symbolic forms among the indigenous populations of Maritime Southeast Asia (Nusantara). They include among others, themes and subject matter related to the indigenous knowledge of the ethnic Malays and related ethnic groups within the region.
The langsuyar, also lang suir or langsuir, is a female revenant in Malay and other mythologies in the Malay Archipelago. The word is derived from the Malay word for eagle.
The Monster Project is a 2017 American horror film directed by Victor Mathieu and starring Justin Bruening and Toby Hemingway.
Malaysian folklore is the folk culture of Malaysia and other indigenous people of the Malay Archipelago as expressed in its oral traditions, written manuscripts and local wisdoms. Malaysian folklores were traditionally transmitted orally in the absence of writing systems. Oral tradition thrived among the Malays, but continues to survive among Orang Asli and numerous Bornean ethnic groups in Sarawak and Sabah. Nevertheless, Malaysian folklores are closely connected with classical Malay folklore of the region. Even though, Malay folklore tends to have a regional background, with the passing of time, and through the influence of the modern media, large parts of regional Malay folklore have become interwoven with the wider popular Malaysian folklore.
Upiór (Tatar language: Убыр , Turkish: Ubır, Obur, Obır, is a demonic being from Slavic and Turkic folklore, a prototype of the vampire. It is suggested that the ubır belief spread across the Eurasian steppes through the migrations of the Kipchak-Cuman people, after having its origins in the regions surrounding the Volga River and the Pontic steppes. The modern word "vampire" derives from the Old Slavic language and Turkic form онпыр , with the addition of the sound "v" before a large nasal vowel, characteristic of Old Bulgarian, as evidenced by the traditional Bulgarian form впир.
References
- Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures That Stalk the Night, By Bob Curran, Published by Career Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-56414-807-0, 222 pages - Google books.
