Ghouls are a terrible fairy tale or a cultural heritage

Ghouls are not only characters of Slavic mythology and the main characters of terrible fairy tales. Tales of their atrocities impressed many poets, musicians, artists and writers. Books and pictures appeared about the life of terrible creatures. Subsequently, they gave birth to whole subcultures, worshiping the supernatural. But what do we know about vampires, ghouls and ghouls? Who are they, what do they look like and do they really exist? Let's try to answer these questions in more detail.

What does "Ghoul" mean?

In ancient times, our ancestors worshiped the forces of nature, in whose hands human life was just a toy. The Slavs believed that the souls of their ancestors return to their homes, feast with descendants and protect them from evil. Even in the Paleolithic or Mesolithic age, when the way of life of people was inextricably linked with hunting, the ghouls and bereguins accompanied the ancestors from birth to death. Later the ghouls appeared to the Slavs as the disembodied evil spirits of the dead, to whom all life is hated. Bereginis, on the contrary, were good spirits and sought to protect people from all evil. The Christianity that came to replace paganism changed the rites and beliefs of people. Over time, the image of the dead spirit changed and acquired new features. Now the ghouls are the dead, rising from the graves, to drink the blood of living people or to eat their flesh.

Who becomes a ghoul

Contrary to popular belief, it is impossible to become a living dead through infection or initiation. This title must be earned by unrighteous life, debauchery, drunkenness or worship of the dark forces. It is known that such monsters became after the death of sorcerers, villains, witches or suicides. However, some people could simply not be lucky, if they, for example, were conceived in an "evil" minute. What this term means, no one could answer, and therefore under suspicion were all those who were born nine months after the fast or a great church holiday. Also, future ghouls could give out a double row of teeth or an evil character.

What does a ghoul look like?

People's beliefs say that it is not difficult to learn a ghoul. The most terrible of them are in the form of skeletons or dead bodies, swollen from drunk blood. Others do not change their appearance so drastically and come to live in the form of deceased relatives or friends. They are dressed in clothes in which they were buried, and only the presence of a tail or a build-up under the knee from which the soul takes flight is issued. The most cunning bloodsuckers masquerade as living so cleverly that not everyone will be able to distinguish their normal people. However, if you notice that your interlocutor does not have a shadow, and your lips are unnaturally bloated and have a bright scarlet color, then beware. Perhaps you were greeted by a rebel dead man who wants to taste blood. How to resist this vampire, read in the next section of our article.

Methods to combat bloodsuckers

Folk tales and legends give us a clear instruction on how to protect against ghouls. Most of them we know from Western horror films and the book of the famous Irishman Brem Stoker. However, are European methods of fighting vampires so effective and will they affect their Eastern Slavic colleagues? Let's take a closer look at this issue and give "proven" examples:

• Preventive methods of protection apply to all the dead, even in our time. They include funeral service in the church, commemoration on special days, a ban on the death longing for loved ones.
• Strict preventive measures are taken to suspicious (sometimes even in life) personalities. This kind of deceased good neighbors cut knee tendons, poking at them with a needle, dismembering the body, and also stabbing sharp objects in the heels.
• If the restless dead man decides to assault fellow villagers, they take him seriously. There are many signs that there are ghouls in the village - this can be a sudden increase in mortality, a moribund, a drought, or a natural disaster. In this case, the old good stake (in our region aspen, and in the southern counterparts of thorns) comes into play. It was also recommended to cut off the head of a suspicious dead person or burn his body, and scatter the ashes.

Ghouls and the Present

Thanks to the untwisted Hollywood stories, many descendants of the Slavs no longer remember the beliefs of their glorious ancestors. Images of terrible dead people coming to dine with live people are replaced by images of elegant and aristocratic vampires. Unfortunately, few of the fans of horror films know about the works of the great A. Pushkin, N. Gogol or A. Tolstoy, who still inspire fear and give sleepless nights. Ghouls are a vivid example of popular beliefs, reflected in modern culture and worldview. That is why it will be very unfortunate if we forget about the terrible tales of our ancestors and become frightened of the appearance on the screens of refined nosferatu, born of the fantasy of Western producers.