By the way, if you happen to be interested in vampire lore around the world, you may enjoy a book called The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead, written by J. Gordon Melton. In Ottoman times, often to escape higher taxes levied on Christian subjects, the majority of Albanians became Muslims. [28] As revealed in Albanian epic poetry, the Zana observe Albanian battles, offering their assistance and protection where needed. And yes, vampire hunters were a thing in Greece and likely in Albania too. Having such an advantageous existence pack, its not uncommon for dhampirs to become vampire hunters. A shtriga was featured in the Lost Girl episode "Follow the Yellow Trick Road." Some scarier than others. Albania is full of myths and legends about its beautiful landscape. Zuku, taunted and captured is blinded by his mother. It doesnt take one to be a wolf expert to know that a wolf is a wild and free animal that doesnt take orders from humans, so youll probably need to think of an indirect way to complete your mission. How else would it hunt, right? Who is the national poet of Albania? He is accompanied by two. Baba. [11] The cult of the Sun and the Moon also appears in Albanian legends and folk art. Or, if you prefer, you can whisper syt i dalin syt i plain or plast syri keq 3 to 6 times. They travelled through the northern Albanian mountains and recorded folkloric materials which were published in French translation in the 1858 Hcquard's pioneering Histoire et description de la Haute Albanie ou Gugarie (History and Description of High Albania or Gegaria). Copyright [2020] [www.thebalkansandbeyond.com]. The following day, Manole looked out and sadly saw his wife, Ana, walking towards the site. Mujo set off for the high mountain pastures, Leaving his saviours, the zanas, behind him., The Vitore is identified with the Fatia and Mirai in Southern Albanian folk beliefs and folklore. Zmeyare beings with vaguely human features. [22], The first Albanian folklorist to collect the oral tradition in a more systematic manner for scholarly purposes was the Franciscan priest and scholar Shtjefn Gjeovi. As soon as the creature chooses a food source in the foggy streets, it will immediately proceed to follow this person. So we have a little bit of background now, but every good storyteller knows that a story needs a face. The zana e malit is an Albanian mythological creature (Albanian: Zane or Zre in southern Albania)("fairy of the mountain" in English), zana (as a definite noun), or zan (plural) of pre-Roman Paleo-Balkan origin. A shtriga ( Albanian: shtrig) is a vampiric witch in Albanian mythology and folklore that sucks the blood of infants at night while they sleep, and then turns into a flying insect (traditionally a moth, fly or bee ). She did not die and re-emerged on a different isle. It does not store any personal data. [20] A substantial contribution in this direction has been made by the Albanologist Robert Elsie. Some of these stories actually scared me a little!! This compilation was a milestone of Albanian folk literature being the first collection of Albanian material of scholarly quality. The Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture makes available for the first time a wealth of knowledge about Albanian popular belief and folk customs. The Albanian word shtrig (definite form being shtriga) derives from the Latin strga, "evil spirit, witch",[2] related to Italian: strega, Romanian: strig and Polish: strzyga. The kulshedra or kuedra is a water, storm, fire and chthonic demon in Albanian mythology and folklore, usually described as a huge multi-headed female serpentine dragon. [16], Albanian myths and legends are already attested in works written in Albanian as early as the 15th century,[17] however, the systematic collection of Albanian folklore material began only in the 19th century. The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. [51] The earliest church vocabulary of Middle Greek origin in Albanian dates to the 8th9th centuries, at the time of the Byzantine Iconoclasm, which was started by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. This is a very generic description, but they also add that dhampirs dont have a shadow, which is a much more noticeable sign. Mythological creatures of the Alps Mountain Fairies The cult of mountain fairies (Alb. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Mitko's own collectionincluding 505 folk songs, and 39 tales and popular sayings, mainly from southern Albaniawas finished in 1874 and published in the 1878 Greek-Albanian journal Alvaniki melissa / Belietta Sskiypetare (The Albanian Bee). I havent heard of any of these, but they are so cool! In particular an important role was played by the Theme of Dyrrhachium and the Archdiocese of Ohrid. Sometimes she manifests as a dark mass, or a shadow, which can be seen on a persons chest or neck during the night. Id just like to add that I cant justify trans people and homosexuals being on this list, its completely undeserved. Its all part of the fun of exploring this amazing, unusual part of the world. Anyway, lets end this part in the most fitting way for the occasion: how does one kill a vrykolakas? In Albanian mythology, this dragon is called a Bolla. When assuming the form of a child, the Drekavac predicts someonesdeath, while in its animal form, it predicts cattle disease. When she enters peoples home, she goes straight for a sleeping infant, sucks its blood, and then turns into an insect. You wont be able to avoid it when you visit. The defense against Night Hags is to close all keyholes to stop them from entering the room. SHE SEEMD, AT ONCE, SOME PENANCED LADY ELF, SOME DEMONS MISTRESS, OR THE DEMONS OWN SELF. while sleeping" are very widespread among the Balkan peoples. Therefore, several Albanian dialectal variants exist, such as zn, zn, zr, xan, xn, etc. But these were old-fashioned views and thats just how it was back then. Varieties of the symbols of the Sun that Christian orders brought in the region found in the Albanian highlands sympathetic supporters, enriching the body of their symbols with new material. The story of the three sisters occurs in the oldest house in the town of Pranj and is a great piece of Balkan Folklore. The Shtriga appears in the Legends of Tomorrow episode "Wet Hot American Bummer." If youre unlucky enough to be chosen by sampiro, however, there is a bright side. [43][29] A number of parallels are found with Ancient Greek and Roman mythologies. Yet another similarity between lugat and sampiro is that lugat also tends to getattached to its victims and prefers to feed off the same one for as long as it can. The German physician Karl H. Reinhold collected Albanian folklore material from Albanian sailors while he was serving as a doctor in the Greek navy and in 1855 he published Noctes Pelasgicae (Pelasgian Nights). Anyway, just being a Turk was not where it all ended. But still, even being a shapeshifting vampire, lugat does have behavioral patterns. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". As you can see, the Northern Albanian folklore only mentions women as potential shtrigas, but other sources of Albanian mythology creatures dont exclude men from thisopportunity. Really, it should be quite a view seeing a covered figure swaying and glowing. So now you might be wondering what exactly is so creepy about dhampirs. But, one by one, they all plummeted to the ground and died. . When Ana arrived, they told her that they wanted to play a game during their lunchtime. A Lamiais a creature said to be half woman, half serpent. Mythological Creatures Coming at Night and Strangling People. Basically, you have 3 options there: impale its head on a spike, chop its head off, or seek help from a professional vampire hunter. A shtriga (Albanian: shtrig) is a vampiric witch in Albanian mythology and folklore that sucks the blood of infants at night while they sleep, and then turns into a flying insect (traditionally a moth, fly or bee). Abaia: A magical eel (Melanesian Mythology) 47. They brought forth his courser and put on its saddle. They can live either in caves or mountain tops, and are particularly intelligent. He compiled his collection with Spiro Risto Dine who emigrated to Egypt in 1866. And the creature is always heavily covered in flowing fabric or its own grave shroud. Other Indo-European scholars who collected Albanian folklore material were German linguists Gustav Weigand and August Leskien. During construction the walls of the monastery would continuously crumble. Henwen the White by Paige Carpenter. I just dont understand how they actually manage to get their prey, I mean this whole show sampiro creates really attracts attention, even in the dark. A figure from northern Albanian mythology, the name comes from the Albanian word for 'steam' and refers to a spirit-like creature that can suffocate humans with their breath. [10] A widespread folk symbol is the serpent, a totem of the Albanians associated with earth, water, sun, hearth and ancestor cults, as well as destiny, good fortune and fertility. To tease? On his journey he encounters an Ora who assists him and guides him towards Tanusha. If you were killed by a vampire or even ate the meat of an animal that wasnt properly slaughtered, or it was killed accidentally You guessed, these things make you a vampire too. Baba Tomorri has taken a fine-looking bride, Earthly Beauty. Other descriptions have him as an undead child, who was unbaptised, that has returned to haunt its parents. The heels, the swaying, and the flying fabric are creepy enough, but then it also begins to make kissing sounds. Zana e ujit, Nusja Shapulic, Cuca e Liqenit, Ksheta, me diell (by sun), me dh (by earth), me zjarr (by fire), me fush (by field), me gur/gur-rrufeje (by stone/thunder-stone), me hn (by moon), me mal (by mountain), me qiell (by sky), me uj (by water), me toks (by snake), Nxiri: all-seing eyes that look at humans from the ground following their movements everywhere, considered to be the sight of the living Earth, Ditt e Plaks (Old Woman's Days, a belief about the last cold days of winter), Angu (shapeless ghost who appears in dreams), Avullushe (spirits that suffocate people with their breath), akalloz (mighty being, slightly deranged hero), Dhevshtruesi (half human and half animal), Katravesh (the four-eared one, man-eating monster), Makth (nightmare ghost that suffocates people during sleep), Through ritual processions, dances and songs (, The Barefaced Man and the Pasha's Brother, The Tale of the Youth who Understood the Language of the Animals, The Daughter of the Moon and Sun (version with, The Daughter of the Moon and Sun (version with the king's son), Seven Spans of Beard and Three Spans of Body, Revenge Taken on Kastrati a Legend of the Triepshi Tribe, The Founding of the Hoti and Triepshi Tribes, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 21:57. Durham reports that supernatural happenings within Albania would act as a caution, with many refusing to travel anywhere near areas believed to be cursed and/or protected by the Ora.[26]. In Albanian mythology, she is usually attacked and defeated by a drangue, a divine being who is regarded as the protector of mankind. And if you tried to distract yourself from her stare somehow, you would very quickly notice her crooked nose. This is really interesting! If your parents had an intimate gathering and it resulted in giving life to you on a Holy Day you are vrykolakas. [42], Albanian folklore traces back to Paleo-Balkan mythology including a substrate of Illyrian religion. [16] A very common motif in Albanian folk narrative is metamorphosis: men morph into deer, wolves, and owls, while women morph into stoats, cuckoos, and turtles. Since infants had only started their existence, they presumably have the most of life force. So what exactly does this concealment mean when referring to Jinns? The French consul in Janina and Thessalonika, Auguste Dozon, published Albanian folk tales and songs initially in the 1879 Manuel de la langue chkipe ou albanaise (Manual of the Shkip or Albanian Language) and in the 1881 Contes albanais, recueillis et traduits (Albanian Tales, Collected and Translated). Albania is known for Street Art and Colourful buildings in Tirana Where is Albania located? This next creature can, in some way, count as a vampire, although its best-known as a witch. "[59] In Ottoman times education in the Albanian language was forbidden. Read More. And maybe its just me because as a kid I used to cry often, but why would parents want to scare their children into not crying? The Ora's appearance alters according to the personality and attributes of the human a white Ora for the brave and industrious, or a black Ora for the lazy or cowardly.[8], In Northern Albania, the Oras are represented similarly to the Southern Albanian Fatia as a group of three mythological goddesses who gather in the night to perform the task of determining the childs fate at birth and distribute their favours upon the child. But not until the rain completely washed their blood from the ground and when their bones were ploughed back into the earth. Ooooh spooky! This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. All in all, she is either middle-aged or an elderly woman who, judging from her dark stare alone, is definitely not a sweet and ordinary grandma. I suppose it would be useful to know in what context Albanians use Lubias name, but I didnt come across any contextual use. Melton is a bright and educated man and I genuinely found his book a very interesting read. Surprisingly, they agreed and decided that the first wife to bring lunch for her husband should be the one to be encased into the walls of the monastery. The folk storytellers have played an important role in preserving Albanian folklore. Lexicon of Albanian Mythology: Areal Studies in the Polylingual Region of Azov Sea. He swore that he would marry the sister who waited for him to return. I love when history is THIS interesting! Apparently, parents tell their loud children that Buba will get them if they dont quiet down. The Czech linguist and professor of Romance languages and literature, Jan Urban Jarnik, published in 1883 Albanian folklore material from the region of Shkodra in Zur albanischen Sprachenkunde (On Albanian Linguistics) and Pspvky ku poznn ne albnskch uveejuje (Contributions to the Knowledge of Albanian Dialects). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The Ora (Albanian: or, definite form: ora, pl. But, to ensure the builders couldnt create a more beautiful building somewhere else, he had them all stranded on the roof so that they would perish and be unable to build again. Am I the only one wondering how those heads are placed on the body? The earliest church lexicon is mainly of Late Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin origin and, to a large extent, of native origin, which leads to the conclusion that the Christianisation of the Albanians occurred under the Latin-based liturgy and ecclesiastical order of the Holy See. [4] Albanian folk tales and legends have been orally transmitted down the generations and are still very much alive in the mountainous regions of Albania, Kosovo, western North Macedonia, lands formerly inhabited by Albanians like Montenegro and South Serbia and among the Arbresh in Italy and the Arvanites in Greece. When I was doing my research specifically about dhampirs, I expected to discover some kind of defects that would come from the human parent. They could then be captured and killed at the threshold as they vainly attempted to pass. So you already know that a shtriga typically targets infants for some weird reason. Thank you for sharing. Some of the characters of the Albanian myth: 1. Neighbours of Albania Montenegro Kosovo North Macedonia Greece Questions & Answers Who is the national founder of Albania? The bad news is that sampiro might be back for more eventually and if its a very hungry one, it could lead to death after many frequent visits. [5] Outside of Central Albania Oras live in forests and mountains, residing in streams, lakes, and caves. The mythological cycle of the deeds of Muyi reveal the Oras ability to provide the hero with supernatural powers and healing while in the form of a serpent. There was no one to wall it up after she died. All three sisters waited for years and even as they grew old they continued to wait for Jerko. [27] From 1923 onward, Scottish scholar and anthropologist Margaret Hasluck collected Albanian folklore material when she lived in Albania. Albanian stories, in particular, tell us that dhampirs can be recognized by their black or messy and untamed hair. Category:Albanian legendary creatures Help Pages in category "Albanian legendary creatures" The following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Unlike sampiro, however, lugat leaves its victims to deal with very serious consequences. Note that the parent vampire is not a dhampir, but a 100% vampire. As a matter of fact, even today many Albanians point their fingers at shtriga whenever theres untimely infant death. It starts as an illness and it begins to progress, eventually ending with death. Also, why would shtriga go to a church? Here is our assortment of Balkan folklore and mythical beings. Ill tell you more about it very soon. Interestingly enough, in Albania lugat is more often categorized as a demon rather than a vampire. The deity of Tomor is of Illyrian origin. Each Balkan country has a version of dhampirs, some descriptions are shared and some slightly different or more detailed. Often appearing on roads and meadows or next to rivers and creeks, they began as ambiguous, black mists, silhouettes and whirlwinds. Speaking of spitting into someones mouth If you want to avoid that for your children, or any children, for that matter, youll be relieved to know that in some Albanian regions its common to say mashaallah to children and babies while also touching their noses. Save Balkan Folklore Discover the Fascinating Tales and Mythical Creatures for later by pinning the image below. I gotta admit, that does sound hard to ignore. 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Majority of Albanians became Muslims its parents milestone of Albanian folk literature being the first of. Some of the characters of the fun of exploring this amazing, unusual part of the characters of monastery! The Theme of Dyrrhachium and the Archdiocese of Ohrid Albanians became Muslims did not die and re-emerged a.