“For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.”
(Leveticus 17:11. King James Bible – KJV)
Definition: The familiar red fluid in the body that contains white and red blood cells, platelets, proteins, and other elements. The blood is transported throughout the body by the circulatory system. Blood functions in two directions: arterial and venous. Arterial blood is the means by which oxygen and nutrients are transported to tissues while venous blood is the means by which carbon dioxide and metabolic by-products are transported to the lungs and kidneys, respectively, for removal from the body. (by Websters New World)
Blood as essence of Life dates back with the beginning o human history. The intense of it’s color it’s taste and smell were often described in ancient works, it will become a symbol in almost any belief of the ancient word, part of the ritual, a symbol for family, relatives or unity, a symbol of blessing or sexual desire. The Idea of bloodline will soon mean more then only family, and will built a sine qua non way to the early christian Legends. If in ancient Greece, blood was part of the four humors (or four elemnt medicine: Blood for Air, Yellow Bile for Fire, Black Bile for Earth, Pleghm for Water), blood will be associated with air, with springtime, with passion and roses. The blood of the Gods was poisones to mortals.
It is the Noahidian and Levitical law that will see in blood the life of the createars, and will forbid the drinking of it or eating the flesh with the blood. This Levitical law is the particularity of Jewish and Christian belief that will built around the idea of blood, the blood of the Christ, and ultimate born in the Middle Age the Legends of the Holy Grail and Sang Real. Christian Blood is the symbol for atonement of sins, it is the ultimate blood, and to own it will soon become the myth that will lead seekers in search of purification or immortality. The Eucharistic wine, used for the Last Supper is a symbol for the Blood of Jesus, : “
The Last Super by Leonardo da Vinci 1494–1498
tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic. Dimensions 460 cm × 880 cm (181 in × 346 in) Location Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.“ (Luke 22:20)
The blood is described in the book of Revelation 1:5 as the purification and the sacrifice of the Christ
“… Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”
Our Days the consumption of blood is still fobbiden in Eastern Orthodox Church, also in Judaism, modern Christian religions or the Islam.
“Forbidden to you are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which has been invoked the name of other than Allah.” (Qur’an, sura Al-Ma’ida 5:3)”
Few people now that the origins of the christian words of bless and blessing are “blood-related” with deep origins in the European Paganism of the Anglo-Saxons and Viking Tribes. Blood was used in animal and human sacrifices as a ritual of gaining power, the power of the originator. This power could be transfered to others by sprinkling blood on a other person or on the walls of those house. This ritual was known as: blóedsian. It is the Catholic Church that will barrow the terminus to use it as bless or blessing.
The word “blood” itself finds it’s origins also back to early middle age, in the Anglo-Saxon dialects around the year 1000AD, the word blôd, which is akin to the Old High German word bluot, in modern German: (das) Blut. It is the ate European paganism mixed with christian beliefs that will accept the derogation from the Levitical law, pointing the interdiction of blood consumtion, in the Catholic Church. Blood will also be used in early medical researches as we read in De Vita by Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499):
“There is a common and ancient opinion that certain prophetic women who are popularly called ‘screech-owls’ suck the blood of infants as a means, insofar as they can, of growing young again. Why shouldn’t our old people, namely those who have no [other] recourse, likewise suck the blood of a youth? — a youth, I say who is willing, healthy, happy and temperate, whose blood is of the best but perhaps too abundant. They will suck, therefore, like leeches, an ounce or two from a scarcely- opened vein of the left arm; they will immediately take an equal amount of sugar and wine; they will do this when hungry and thirsty and when the moon is waxing. If they have difficulty digesting raw blood, let it first be cooked together with sugar; or let it be mixed with sugar and moderately distilled over hot water and then drunk.”
(Marsilio Ficino, De Vita II (1489), 11: 196-199. Translated by Sergius Kodera)
In Europe the vampiric legends will atribuite to blood the sexual desire, and idea of lust, but there are early assocaition of blood wit hsexuality in anicent China, Japan, or Korea. Even in our days there is prefference in Hentai movies or books to show men with bleeding noses if they have just seen a nude girl/women, or in transparnet clothing.
Nose Bleeding can be seen often in Anime or Hentai movies, it is related to erectile function and sexual desire. it is not the invention of modern anime designers but related to ancient asiatic beliefs that man can show red nose or bleed when having a strong desire. It is possible to bleed by nose by having a high blood pressure, and yes it can be caused by sexual behavior but it is impossible to show up with nose bleeding every time you go excited.
Of course vampires don’t bleed or show red noses, but blood and the desire for blood stays often for erectile connotations. Also the preference of male vampires for female blood, in literature, the neck biting show sexual desire. Elizabeth Bathory was accused not only for blood drinking, bathing but also for immoral sexual herasment including lesbian practices and the use of sexual toys. Elizabeth Bathory will ultimatly become the female symbol of the vampires, from modern manga series to movies, musical interpretation, (like: Iron Maiden), or video games. More recent the sexuality of blood sucking or eating was acentuated by the hollywoodian movies, the manga series or the video games like BloodRayne, often associated with naked or barley clothed girls often with red hair.
BloodRayne is an action hack and slash video game. Bloodrayne inspired a series of films and self-contained comic books. It was developed by Terminal Reality, and was strongly influenced by their previous game Nocturne. The main character is Blood Rayne, a vampire-girl
(to be continued)
… BUT WHY: BLOOD?
the answer to this question can be easy to understnad reading the obove: first off all because Blood is the juice of Life, even if in ancient time people believed that blood was produced by the liver, and they didn,t know about the transportation of oxigen and nutrients and any other details about the function of blood cells, it was easy to understand that blood was essential for life. the need of blood to survive, blood and the animal the fauna including bats, ticks, leeches, mosquitoes … contributed to the development of the mythical creatures that live by sucking the blood of other animals or humans. We have as example the Strix in the ancient Roman mythology ans similar creatures that feed by blood sucking in the ancient greece. It is to be noted that the modern vampire is not present in ancient mythology but this helped overlaped centuries after with christian and european pagan belifes, to be taken by folklore and “redesigned” in the image o the modern vampire: a blood sucking creature, an immortal human with animal instincts of feeding lured by blood. It is to be mention, that there are several disease related to vampirism such as the Porphyria, that is a disease that causes irrational behavior, a phobia of light, paleness, and a desire to ingest blood. A common cure in the 1800s was a cup of cow’s blood from a butcher. Also hepatitis wrongly attributed to blood loos and vampires. To be noted that there are a number of real medical conditions that might result in vampiric behavior or appearance, and do to the pale skin coloring of this disease an urgnet need of blood was considered a cure.
… WHY SUCKING IT?
again, the fauna contributed to this image, the european polecat or Mustela putorius was known by villains by feed with animal blood by sucking it, often not showing interest in the flash. The idea of sucking was more intimate and pagan at the same time and fascinated more then simple drinking it by glass. The vampire can be a gentlemen with manners, but this never implicated drinking ethics or habits like we are used too. Bram Stoker describes the blood sucking as an erotic act in slow motion, while the tooth penetrate the skin and flesh letting the fluid out. We can say that it was the eroticism of the act that consecrated the idea of sucking. Yes, more modern vampires can accept drinking blood by glass or why not keep it in transfusion bags, but this are examples of not being confident with him self, a self-denial and willing to be mortal again, often springing from feeling developed for the human kind or a mortal partner/lover. This involves often self abstinence from human blood, and it is the case of novels written for teenagers like the Twilight Saga, some Anime Series or other romantic, melodramatic movies. Not sucking blood, is not the case for count Dracula, and if, than only if going trough harsh times.
The act o blood-sucking. Here Bela Lugosi in the movie: Dracula
![One firts edition of Bram Stocker's Dracula, Book estimated at 7500 USD Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company , [June] 1897. First edition, later issue (probably third, circa Dec. 1897).](https://draculatoday.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/65726_1.jpg)
Dracula Private Tour 