Recent Folklore abounds about the humble Vampire bat who is said to have supernatural powers, being able to change shape from bat to man. In many of our Vampire horror movies the Vampire bat is used in just this way. In South America stories have been told of large bats who kill and eat people and bats have been linked to ceremonial knives and artifacts of sacrifice. These sacrificial items were used in decapitation to supply blood to appease the gods.

Almost no country is free from the folklore of blood sucking creatures. Gypsy groups coming from India tell of Bhuta, Brahmaparusha, and Rakshara roaming the night killing and sucking the blood of humans. Indian folklore also believed Vampires could change into not only bats but chickens, horses, dogs, cats, snakes, fleas and even fruits such as pumpkins, watermelons and household tools. When all is said and done the Vampire bat is really very nondescript. He is tiny and at full growth is only as big as an adults thumb. He mainly feeds off livestock and birds by using his sharp teeth to leave a gash and then lapping the blood and feeding on the red cells. This little bat has special anatomy adapted to its liquid diet allowing it to separate the red cells which it needs to survive.

The unique properties of the vampire bats’ saliva has been used in the study of Stroke patients. This study which appeared in the January 10, 2003 issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, tested a genetically engineered drug called desmoteplase, which uses the anticoagulant properties of the saliva of Desmodus rotundus, and was shown to increase blood flow in stroke patients. Maree Tozer Borg is the Proud Owner of The Vampire Shack, where you can find interesting articles on Movies and DVDs and general information on your favorite Vampire stars… She also has Vampire and Gothic related Jewellery, Books, DVDs, Fashion and just about everything else related.

As vital of the life it describes, folklore is in continues transformation. Folk customs, ritual and ceremonial in their essence, are a vestige of the past. Their origin, lost in the mists of past ages, lies in the continuous aspiration of man to understand life and all that is happening around him and to master surrounding nature, to make it actively his slave. Many such artistic creations, which are closely related to the ancient beliefs of men concerning the world, are considered among the first endeavors to conquer nature. Though originating in former epochs, the artistic ritual and ceremonial creations are still alive but have lost their Initial meaning and content. Their study illuminates the life and culture of people in the past, how they imagined the world. Furthermore, not infrequently such artistic creations rise to great heights, generally when their realistic character is evident. The knowledge of these creations is particularly useful to those who for the development of a national art at the service of the people.

The genres of folklore being historic categories with a social function and content and having their own means of artistic realization, continuously change their aspect in time and space according to the evolution of the people’s conception of life. Those, which do not correspond disappear within a day, the others undergo transformations according to the new social consciousness. Their function, their content and even their manner of performance change. Relieved, of their magical significance as well as their old train of superstitions, a series of ritual creations have been transformed or are in course of transformation into festive, ceremonial or independent artistic creations, in which the spectacular prevails. Called to answer new purposes, they are meant to enrich and beautify life. These facts, essential for the knowledge of the process of development of folklore, deal a powerful blow to the “traditional” conceptions according to which the genres of traditional folklore and especially of ritual folklore are considered to be petrified in immutable forms, their variants being nothing but the result of all kinds of combination’s of certain fixed of formulas.