There aren't many pop trends that catch me, for example, reality TV doesn't really even exist for me. However, one way to get me to take notice is to talk about myth and folklore. Then you've got my undivided attention! Vampire lore has always intrigued me, even before Stephenie Meyer and Charlaine Harris wrote their vampire-boyfriend stories (love them both, BTW). How did human beings ever come up with "vampires"?

Probably rooted in the time of the plague, some experts believe the vampire myths began in Slavic countries. Families noticed that their relatives and close friends were dying in record numbers. Their belief was that a dead relative or friend rose from the dead and attacked the living in order to be close to them again, either through staying "undead" or by bringing the relative to their side--the otherworld. Why did they believe this? Because people would bust open coffins and sometimes find blood on the mouths of the newly buried. This confirmed their suspicions. I find this fascinating--that our imaginations would jump to "vampire" instead of something like, "maybe blood is seeping out of the dead body because it is no longer in use." Of course, I'm speaking from my modern perspective, so who knows what I personally would have thought if I were alive then?

So, we have the Vampire in our collective mythology and what fun for artists! I love what the vampire can symbolize: vampiric love, the struggle of good and evil in ourselves, the struggle of doing the right thing when faced with survival, all these ideas and many more have been fodder for the vampire mythology.

Thanks for dropping by my web site. May 2010 be your best yet!
Janîce