The word revenant, a variation of the French word revenir (“to return”), simply means “one who has returned after death or a long absence”. It is used in vampiric lore to describe any being or creature that has died, risen up from its grave, and returned to a kind of “unlife” (or UNDEATH) among the living. Not all revenants are vampires, although many types of vampires are revenants.
Source: Ashley, The Complete Book of Vampires; Barber, Vampire, Burial and Death, 85; Day, Vampires, 194
Ревенант
Слово ревенант, вариация французского слова ревенир («возвращаться»), означает просто «тот, кто вернулся после смерти или долгого отсутствия». Оно используется в преданиях о вампирах, чтобы описать любое существо или создание, которое умерло, восстало из могилы и возвратилось к некой «нежизни» (или немертвости) среди живых. Не все ревенанты — вампиры, хотя многие типы вампиров являются ревенантами.
Источники: Ashley, «The Complete Book of Vampires»; Barber, «Vampire, Burial and Death», 85; Day, «Vampires», 194
In Scotland and Wales there lives a type of vampiric fay called a redcap. Looking like a small and twisted old man with big teeth, long fingers, and skinny arms, it wears boots made of iron with iron spikes on the soles. The redcap gets its name from the hat it wears upon its head. White originally, it has turned red because the little fay is always trying to mop up the blood of its victims.
Redcaps live in abandoned places where there was once a great amount of violence, like a battlefield or a place of execution. Highly territorial, they will attack anyone who walks too near their home by utilizing their amazing strength to drop boulders on victims’ heads.
Unlike most fay, the redcap is not susceptible to iron, as its boots prove. However, reciting verses from the Bible, showing it a CRUCIFIX, or sprinkling it with holy water will drive it off.
Lord Soulis of Hermitage Castle had a redcap as a familiar (see SOULIS, LORD OF HERMITAGE CASTLE).
Source: Dorson, The British Folklorists, 111; IGI, Folklore, 248; Masters, Natural History of the Vampire, 140; Summers, Geography of Witchcraft, 205
Ravana (Rha-VAN-ah)
Variations: The King of (Sri) Lanka
Ravana, according to Hindu lore, was once the king of Lanka, faithful to his god, and ruler of a prosperous kingdom. He was brave, courageous, and smart, and knew how to use every type of weapon with a degree of skill. Only Lord Shiva himself could kill him. He was further blessed with the ability of flight and invisibility, and could make it rain water, fire, or thousands of arrows. Despite all of this, in his heart Ravana wasa pleasure seeker who sought to use his abilities and gifts for his own personal satisfaction, which in turn caused him to become lustful, proud, quick to anger, and filled with jealousy. Open to corruption, he succumbed and fell from his status as human and devolved into a ten-headed and twenty-armed demon that became the king of the RAKSHASAS. As a demon, he is now driven by his compulsion to drink human blood. A highly skilled shape-shifter, he is also strong enough to split a mountain with his bare hands. Ravana can rip a man’s soul right from his body, regenerate lost limbs, and is immune to all the elements of this plane of existence. Should an attack reach his only vulnerable place, his heart, Ravana can be struck dead by any blow or attack that would destroy a human heart. However, he can be resurrected by pouring blood into his mouth.
Source: Shashi, Encyclopedia Indica, 418-439; Summers, Vampire: His Kith and Kin, 300; Turner, Dictionary of Ancient Deities, 335
The Betsileo people who live on the southern part of the Madagascar plateau have in their mythology a ceremonial vampire known as a ramanga (“blue blood”) who serves the tribal chiefs. His duty as the noble’s constant companion is to eat the nail clippings as well as drinking any blood or spit that the chief or other people of high stature may shed. This is done to ensure that these vital ingredients cannot fall into the hands of a witch who would use them to make a fetish.
Source: Frazer, The Golden Bough, 236; Kent, Early Kingdoms in Madagascar, 221; Masters, Natural History of the Vampire; NPAP, Psychoanalytic Review, 6
Раманга
В мифологии народности бецилеу, из южной части плато Мадагаскар, есть церемониальный вампир, известный как раманга («голубая кровь»), который служит вождям племени. Его обязанности, в качестве постоянного спутника аристократа, состоят в том, чтобы поедать обрезки ногтей, а также выпивать любую кровь или слюну, которые может пролить вождь или другие высокоранговые люди. Это нужно для того, чтобы все эти жизненно важные ингредиенты не попали в руки ведьмы, которая могла бы использовать их для создания фетиша.
Источники: Frazer, «The Golden Bough», 236; Kent, «Early Kingdoms in Madagascar», 221; Masters, «Natural History of the Vampire»; NPAP, «Psychoanalytic Review», 6
There is a VAMPIRIC WITCH in India that is called a ralaratri (“black night”). Accompanied by cats, one of which is her familiar, she is described as having eyebrows that have grown together, full lips, large cheeks, and suspiciously large and predominant teeth. Beyond having her own type of witchcraft, the ralaratri has an array of abilities, including controlling storms, prophesying, potion brewing, and shape-shifting into a tiger. It is usually in her tiger form that the ralaratri will hunt for humans to kill, but she will revert to her human self to eat their flesh.
The ralaratri in tiger form is notoriously difficult, as well as dangerous, to kill. It is suggested that the better route would be to follow or track the tiger back to the ralaratri’s home and wait until she has assumed her human form. Then, before she can cast her magic or shapeshift again, her teeth must be smashed in, as this will remove her powers. Once stripped of her magic and abilities, the ralaratri is completely helpless and can be killed by any method that would kill a human.
Source: Baskin, Dictionary of Satanism, 272; Masters, Eros and Evil, 188; Spence, Encyclopædia of Occultism, 226; Wedeck, Dictionary of Magic, 77
In the Hinduism that is practiced in India there is a vampiric race of demons known as the rakshasas, created by Brahma to protect the ocean from those who sought to steal the secret Elixir of Immortality. They are part human and part animal, but the human-to-animal ratio varies widely depending on the source being cited. Most often the animal mix is tiger. The Vedas, a Hindu religious text, describes the beings as having five legs and a body completely covered in blood. Modern descriptions of rakshasas add that they have fangs and the ability to use magic.
When not protecting the Elixir of Immortality, the rakshasas live in the treetops; however, they will often wander in cemeteries where they will disrupt services and religious incantations. When hunting for humans to feed upon, the male of the species will stay up in the treetops and wait for its favorite prey to pass underneath: infants or pregnant women. Then, the rakshasas will vomit down onto them, killing them. Female rakshasas, called rakshasis, have the ability to shape-shift into beautiful women, and in that guise will lure men off to a discreet location in order to attack them, draining them of their blood.
There is a belief that if a child can be persuaded to eat human brains, it will transform into this vampiric creature. A type of sorcerer exists that follows the rakshasas’ activities closely, as they will consume the uneaten remains of a rakshasas kill. This act is called YATU DHANA.
Rakshasas can be killed if an exorcism is performed on them, but prolonged exposure to sunlight or burning them to ash works as well.
Source: Crooke, Introduction to the Popular Religion, 124, 154-158, 234, 320; Knapp, Machine, Metaphor, and the Writer, 161-162, 171; Pattanaik, Indian Mythology, 79, 86, 90-96
In the Bihar and Orissa regions of India there is the belief in a vampiric creature called a punyaiama (“pure race”). It is described as looking like an old woman with black skin, poisonous fingernails, and slitted eyes. It is usually covered in the ashes from funeral pyres, as that is where it sleeps during the day. At night, the punyaiama attacks lone travelers as they walk down quiet roads. It also climbs up to the roof of a house and feeds a magical string down the home’s chimney. The thread is enchanted to find sleeping women or women who are passed out drunk, insert itself into their skin, and feed blood back up to the waiting punyaiama. The vampire also has the ability to possess a corpse, and when it does so, the corpse’s feet distort and bend backward.
Source: Kosambi, Introduction to the Study of Indian History, 35-45; Saletore, Indian Witchcraft, 83; Volta, The Vampire, 151
In ancient Peruvian lore, there was a sect of vampiric devil worshipers called pumapmicuc. They slipped into a home, found a sleeping child, and drank some of its blood, taking with them some of the child’s life (see ENERGY VAMPIRE).
Source: de Molina, Narratives of the Rites, 83, 89, 114; McNally, In Search of Dracul, 117; Ralston, Russian Folktales, 311-328; Trumbull, The Blood Covenant, 115
В древних преданиях Перу существовала секта вампирических дьяволопоклонников, под названием пумапмикук. Они проникали в дом, находили спящего ребенка и выпивали немного его крови, забирая с собой часть жизненной силы (смотри «Энергетический вампир»).
Источники: de Molina, «Narratives of the Rites», 83, 89, 114; McNally, «In Search of Dracul», 117; Ralston, «Russian Folktales», 311-328; Trumbull, «The Blood Covenant», 115
Another vampiric werewolf from Romanian lore, the procolici is a man who has the ability to shape-shift into a wolf by spinning in a circle three times. In his wolf form he will then hunt for animals and the occasional human to attack to drain dry of blood.
Source: Maberry, Vampire Universe, 251; Perkowski, Vampires of the Slavs
Другой вампирический оборотень из румынский преданий, называемый проколич — это человек, способный превращаться в волка, три раза повернувшись по кругу. В облике волка он будет охотится на животных и случайных людей, набрасываясь на них, чтобы досуха выпить кровь.
Источники: Maberry, «Vampire Universe», 251; Perkowski, «Vampires of the Slavs»
In the geographic and historic region of Romania that was once Wallachia, there is the lore of a vampiric were-creature called a priculics (“wolf coat”). By day it passes as a handsome young man, but at night it has the ability to shape-shift into a large and shaggy black dog. In its animal form it will attack anyone it encounters, draining his of his blood.
Source: Baskin, Sorcerer’s Handbook, 88; Leland, Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling, 65; Masters, Natural History of the Vampire, 93; Perkowski, The Darkling, 40
В географическом и историческом регионе Румынии, который когда-то был Валахией, есть предания о вампирическом оборотне, который назывался прикуликс («волчья шкура»). Днем он выглядит как красивый молодой человек, но ночью у него есть способность превщаться в большую и косматую черную собаку. В своей животной форме он нападает на любого, с кем сталкивается, выпивая его кровь.
Источники: Baskin, Sorcerer’s Handbook, 88; Leland, Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling, 65; Masters, Natural History of the Vampire, 93; Perkowski, The Darkling, 40
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