*Ø* Blogmanac | The real Dracula
Romania's mediaeval town of Sighisoara has been hosting an international Dracula conference this month.
Folklorists, historians and scientists delviong into the Dracula legend met with amateur vampirologists from all over the world during the third World Dracula Congress.
The original Dracula had a role to play in the longstanding enmity between the Christian and Muslim religions, and it was his cruelty to Muslims that earned him his reputation as a vampire, though this did not really take off until the 19th century and Bram Stokers fanciful novel that he based on various books he had read (as he never set foot in Transylvania).
Dracula, or Vlad Tepes, was probably born in Sighisoara around 1431 to Vlad Dracul or Dragon. His father named the young Vlad 'Dracula', meaning 'son of Dracul'. However, in Romanian the word also means the devil.
It was a time in which the area was at war with forces from the Muslim Ottoman Empire, whose epicentre was in what we call Turkey today. Because Vlad liked to dine while watching impaled Turkish prisoners writhe on wooden stakes, Count Dracula became associated with the wooden stake that supposedly was the only thing that could kill him.
Read about the conference here
By the way, today is the birthday of horror movie great, Peter Cushing (1913), and tomorrow, May 27, Christopher Lee (1922) who played Dracula, and spooky Vincent Price (1911) share birthdays. Mwahahahah!!
Romania's mediaeval town of Sighisoara has been hosting an international Dracula conference this month.
Folklorists, historians and scientists delviong into the Dracula legend met with amateur vampirologists from all over the world during the third World Dracula Congress.
The original Dracula had a role to play in the longstanding enmity between the Christian and Muslim religions, and it was his cruelty to Muslims that earned him his reputation as a vampire, though this did not really take off until the 19th century and Bram Stokers fanciful novel that he based on various books he had read (as he never set foot in Transylvania).
Dracula, or Vlad Tepes, was probably born in Sighisoara around 1431 to Vlad Dracul or Dragon. His father named the young Vlad 'Dracula', meaning 'son of Dracul'. However, in Romanian the word also means the devil.
It was a time in which the area was at war with forces from the Muslim Ottoman Empire, whose epicentre was in what we call Turkey today. Because Vlad liked to dine while watching impaled Turkish prisoners writhe on wooden stakes, Count Dracula became associated with the wooden stake that supposedly was the only thing that could kill him.
Read about the conference here
By the way, today is the birthday of horror movie great, Peter Cushing (1913), and tomorrow, May 27, Christopher Lee (1922) who played Dracula, and spooky Vincent Price (1911) share birthdays. Mwahahahah!!
Pip Wilson posted item above at 11:34 AM | Permalink
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