Re: Snape’s DE Past & HBP

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 111472

> Pippin:
> > Many cultures have vampire legends and some include the 
 possibility of sexual congress and reproduction with 
humans. It's  not an idea that comes strictly from games or 
anime.<<

Adragh: 
> I have not heard of any! Give me a valid scholarly reference, 
please.  otherwise this is mere hearsay. (Not to be confused 
with heresy which  is something else entirely.)<

Pippin:
Trachtenberg, Joshua, *Jewish Magic and Superstition*, 
University of Pennsylvania Press,  2004 p. 38

"It is difficult to determine whether the *estrie* was regarded as a 
true demon, or as a witch; it was described, sometimes in the 
same source, as both. Included among the incorporeal spirits, it 
was nonetheless also a woman, a flesh-and-blood member of 
the community. In either guise, her character was that of the 
vampire, whose particular prey was little children, though she did 
not disdain at times to include grown-ups in her diet. ...These 
creatures sustained themselves on human blood..."



"If the precentor, during services, offers up a prayer for a sick 
woman who is known to be a vampire, the congregation must 
not respond with an "Amen!"  When a *broxa* or *estrie* is being 
buried, one should notice whether or not her mouth is open; if it 
is, this is a sure sign that she will continue her vampirish 
activities for another year. Her mouth must be stopped up with 
earth, and she will be rendered harmless." --Sefer Hasidim, 
thirteenth century, quoted by Trachtenberg op cit

Trachtenberg also relates that demons in general were 
considered capable of  producing  hybrid offspring--in fact he 
tells of a court case in which demon children attempted to sue 
for their human father's inheritance! (They lost.) He  originally 
published in 1939, so his ideas are unlikely to have been 
influenced by anime or role-playing games

I'm quoting from a Jewish source  because that's my particular 
interest, but the name estrie derives from "strix" which ultimately 
comes  from the Greek for night owl, so this legend must derive 
from the wider European community.

To bring this back to the topic, it certainly sounds as if such a 
creature could successfully pretend to be a witch  and have 
children by a wizard. Granted this is all a lot more obscure and 
foreign than Stoker's Dracula, but the folk elements in Dracula 
were  also obscure and foreign to Britain  before Stoker 
popularized them. 

JKR is not afraid of working obscure legends into her work: 
she's obviously delved much deeper into the lore of alchemy, for 
example,  than most of her readers ever will.


Pippin