In The Blood - Part One

For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement.

(Leviticus 17:11)

Any broad exploration of pre-Industrial European society cannot help but touch upon the plethora of peasant tales that both served to entertain the populace and teach morality to the children of Europe. On surface examination, at least, this function of folklore seems apparent enough. It is a perfectly valid assessment of the function of common fable–but in many respects, it is inadequate. Peasant tales served, in many cases, as more than simple fables. The fact that the vast bulk of European humanity remained illiterate in pre-Industrial Europe should stimulate questions about the more complex and subliminal purposes of this entirely oral form of literature.

It is accurate to speak of the clergy as disseminators of morality, speaking in broad terms. After all, one of the primary functions of any religion is to legislate morality to both the elites and the commoners. However, the Catholic and Orthodox churches of medieval Europe were not fortunate enough to be working with a tabula rasa. Before the peoples of the continent had been converted to Christianity, they had obviously held to various other belief systems. While on the surface these pre-Christian institutions seemed to have disappeared rather thoroughly throughout most of Europe by the eleventh century, the nuances left behind by them and their companioned folklore continued to affect peasant life subtly for many centuries, and arguably continue to impact the broader culture to this day.

Of particular interest is the folklore of blood, due to the wide range of symbolism invoked by this vital substance. Blood folklore has a fascinating history in Europe, primarily because of the conflict between Christian blood myth and the more traditional blood legends that predate the introduction of Christianity to the European mass culture. In the words of anthropologist Reay Tannahill,

[Prehistoric man] knew that life was uncertain and sometimes short, that death was inevitable and sometimes abrupt. Every time he set out for the hunt he was aware that some day... the end would come with a slash and an outpouring of blood. It is not difficult to understand why... he should have come to the conclusion not merely that blood was essential to life, but that it was the essence of life itself.

The fact, therefore, that blood figures centrally in Christianity should be as unsurprising as its central importance in all of folklore and peasant tradition. Nonetheless, it is interesting to compare Christian blood ideology with pre-Christian blood ideology, specifically with that body of oral tradition that survived the Christian conversions and continued to be passed down through successive peasant generations by way of storytelling.

This series shall look at the ways by which these peasant tales began to alter due to the growing Christian influence over European society. One specific topic with respect to blood folklore – namely, the legendary creature known generally as the vampire today – will be discussed in detail. This concept, taken together with the wholly (pre-Reformation) Christian idea of Eucharistic transubstantiation, may further our understanding of the place of blood, blood potency, and blood magic in pre-Industrial Europe.

Vampire, Gothic and related literature

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