Transylvania

Transylvania by Ethan Weingarten         Hardback Book: 24 pages          

The book starts off talking about the scary apects associated with Transylvania,  bats, castles and vampires.   It discusses some of the stories that have come out of Romania and how they were inspired and how the vampire stories gave weight to the stories of Chupacabras in other parts of the world.   It shows a map of Romania with the Transylvania region highlighted.   Romania itself is an Eastern European country and Transylvanian region within the country is centrally located with the Carpathian Mountains to the north and east and the Transylvanian Alps (which is new to me – never heard of the Transylvanian Alps before this) to the south.    The Bihor Mountains are to the west of Transylvania.   The borders tend to be a little soft with parts of Transylvania being absorbed by Hungary over and over during the centuries.   When the Draculs ruled it was most definetly a part of Romania and remained sofor more than 100 years during their reign.  The Dracula character in the Bram Stoker novel is a compilation of various stories/legends but not truly based on the historical Dracul family, though loosely told legends do find their way in.   Vlad Dracula son of Vlad Dracul ruled over the regions of Transylvania and also Walachia.  Dracul means Dragon in the Romanian language and Dracula actually translates to son of the Dragon.  (That would make a cool way to profess frustration, I think.   A mild oath of :”Dracula!” or, “Son of a Dragon!”)   Vlad Dracul sent his young son to live with the emperor of the Ottomon Empire as a show of good faith that Dracul would not rise against the Ottomons in war however, the Ottomons welcomed Vlad Dracula but killed his father and older brother.   When young Vlad was released 6 years later, he returned home to learn of the tragedies.   His hatred fired such a loathing for the Ottoman empire that young Vlad faught with a vicious intensity for 8 years to keep them from ruling Walachia.   To strike fear in the Ottoman hearts Vlad impaled his enemies when his army overpowered them.    It is said he killed or had killed thousands of those who opposed his authority by impaling them.   There is even a wood cutting from that time period showing Vlad sitting at a table eating a meal as he watched his enemies die as the weight of their bodies caused them to slide down the long poles bringing them excruciating deaths.   Vlad Dracula kept his rule over Walachia from 1456 to 1462 continued to do battle several years, regaining power again in 1476 but was killed in battle.   The castle that Bram Stoker describes as Dracula’s Caste in his book is Bran Castle.   While Vlad Dracula was imprisoned in Bran Castle by the Hungarian King for 2 months in 1462,  that is as close as Vlad came to actually what could be called, living there.   Bran castle was built in 1377 and remarkably is still standing to this day though not as pristine as was in its heyday, it is still there and the tourist spot most often visited in homage to the Dracula story.   Hunyadi Castle is another tourist spot, though this location has endured many fires over the years and it has been rebuilt a number of times so it has come a long way from its 1400s original.   Hunyadi Castle is rumored to be haunted by spirits of the past.    Vlad’s actual castle fortress and where he lived is Poenari Castle which due to earthquakes is left mostly in ruins now.    Vlad had this castle built into a cliff for protection and his attackers would have certainly had to be in good  physical condition to broach him here.   There are 1,480 steps to go up to reach it and he would have been able to see anyone approaching for a long way.   It is said that Vlad Dracula forced the townspeople to work on his fortress until they dropped dead from exhaustion but that may be hearsay.   Tales grow over time into legends and he already had one going with the impaling thing.    And about that, while o.k. his thing was impaling his enemies, but, hey, if a group cruelly murdered your Dad and brother whether you acted on it or not, the thought might cross your mind, howeverf, Vlad himself was not known to drink any one’s blood.  That blood sucking thing did come from some villages in Transylvania where vampires are called strigoi who were said to be spirits returned from the dead who first were like poltergeist but once they became stronger were able to materialize and suck the blood from people’s hearts.   If someone in town got the idea that a dead person was a strigoi they dug that sucker (literally) up and stuck a spike through him or burned the body.   The Romanian people obviously don’t play with enemies threatening them neither living nor dead. 

Transylvanians also believe there are 2 days a year that Vampires/Strigoi hang out at crossroads April 23 and November 29.     Vampires are pretty well known all over the world.   While the Romanian word for vampire is: strigoi, the Greek word for vampire is vrykolakas, in Finland its vampyyri, in Germany-vampir,  Sweden-vampyr, Croatia-pijavica, Vietnam – ma ca rong, Russia-upyr must be all that flying they do to get around the world.  Interesting though, that so many cultures and varied cultures not just those countries surrounding Romania, know about vampires.   Hmmmmm.    Makes one ponder.    I would definetly recommend this book for kids old enough to be o.k. with the whole vampire idea through adults who don’t mind reading juvenile books.    I found it to be a learning experience and a worthy read.   I came away having learned a lot.   Good book.

 - Shirley J.