Sabbatarian

Please note that this page is heavily under construction and will be updated.

   They are a highly specialized form of Damphire, born on Saturday Bulgarian sâbotnichav, Greek sabbatianoí. It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was otherwise invisible (and sometimes other supernatural entities as well); similarly for the dhampir. In the case of the Sabbatarians, it was occasionally mentioned in some folk tales that they needed to be fed meat from a sheep killed by a wolf; this would enable them not to fear the things that only they were able to see.

From Late Latin sabbatārius a Sabbath-keeper. Pronunced [ˌsæbəˈtɛərɪən]

Note: Not to be confused with the religious movement to hold Christian Mass on a Saturday.

## General Overview Source 1

They were usually either born on Saturday (then called Sabbatarians, Bulgarian sâbotnichav, Greek sabbatianoí) or the offspring of a vampire and a woman (typically his widow), called a dhampir in Romani or a vampirović in Serbian. It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was otherwise invisible (and sometimes other supernatural entities as well); similarly for the dhampir. In the case of the Sabbatarians, it was believed in some places that they needed to be fed meat from a sheep killed by a wolf (Bulgarian vâlkoedene); this would enable them not to fear the things that only they were able to see.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire\_hunter

## General Overview Source 2

In the folklore of the southern Slavic peoples, it was believed that a vampire had to go through several stages in its development. The first forty days were considered decisive for the creation of a vampire, which began only as an invisible shadow that gradually strengthened thanks to the blood he had sucked. It thus formed a gelatinous and pitted mass that evolved towards the creation of a human body almost identical to the one the person had had in life. This evolution allowed the creature to leave his  grave  and start a new life. The vampire, who was generally  male, was also sexually active and could have children, either with his widow or with a new wife. These children, called dhampiros in Romani or vampirović in Serbian, could also become vampires, but they also had the special ability to see and be able to kill  undead, so they used to become effective vampire hunters. The same talent was attributed to people born on Saturday, called Sabbatarians, in Bulgarian sâbotnichav, and in Greek Sabbatianoí.

http://politicard1.blogspot.com/2013/10/las-creencias-sobre-vampiros.html

## Sâbotnichav

Убиват го само глогове (глог) - човеци, родени в събота, които го виждат. Тия глогове или вампираджии са човеци освен съботници още и такива, които за зачнати от самите плътеници или вампири. Само тия вампираджии могат да виждат и убиват вампирите.

Ако по разни причини плътеникът доживее до шест месеца, той се укоства - както казват в Самоковско, или увампирва - както казват в Западна България, т.е. получава плът и става человек, същ, какъвто е бил и преди смъртта си. Само сега тоя вампир има месо и кожа, а няма кости и нокти; костите му са хръщел. Тоя вампир живее като човек, само че пребягва надалече, дето го не знаят и познават, и тамо се занимава с търговия или занаят. Той се жени като всичките хора и има деца; тия деца от такива вампири са ония вампираджии или глогове, които са единствени способни да познават плътеници и вампири, да ги виждат и убиват.

### Region (current)

Balkans
Bulgaria

## More Info

### Hunter

Dhampir, Vampirović
Yes

### Known Weaknesses

Can see the Invisible, Can train a Fetch Dog
Mortal, may become a vampire after death

### Main Card or Side

Main Card

Only stakes made of hawthorn can kill them - people born on Saturday can see it. These gholas or vampires are men born on a weekend, and those who are conceived by the a vampire father. Only these half-vampires can see and kill vampires.

If for some reason the widow lives for up to six months, she is ravaged, as they say in Samokov, or Waddir, as they say in Western Bulgaria, the vampire returns as he was before his death. This vampire returns to his widow and lives like a man, but he travels far away, and he deals with trade or craft. He marries like all people and has children; these children of such vampires are those vampires or ghosts who are only capable of knowing by sight vampires and are able kill them.

#### additional notes / excerpts

It is believed that children born from a vampire relationship become themselves vampires or vampires .These people are capable of seeing and killing vampires. Vampire children have no shadows; they have a markedly large head. Vampire hunters are, therefore, his descendants, but also the people of Rousse on Saturday, who are able to see and feel his presence. In one story V. Vrcevic we find an interesting and true description of the case in a village where a vampire appeared. "Some people said that the inferno appeared, the other: it is not a thin one, and the third: it is not the wind, but many, that it is some kind of devil's display" (Vrčević, 1881: 51). It is about an unfaithful woman, a widow , after the death of her husband, the child was taken with another man, so she was forced to explain to the villagers that her late husband, being a waswolf, came to her bed at night and she remained pregnant.

"My late husband, Milutin, turned into a bearded man, and every night, here I was dressed in white through a jar of the wall; every time he walked from me at dawn when the first cocoons sank, he would have threatened me: if you tell anyone I come to you, I know that I will first of all, and all of you, to the ninth drop of blood, with the flesh of death to reap. "

The villagers asked the pop what is possible:

"Could a pope, a young man vamp, and become pregnant with his wedding wife?" Pop tells them: "If he was born in a bloody slaughter, or if he was on the way, while he was dead in a house, a quadruped or unclean animal passed" .

The villagers then agreed to go to the grave of the dead in the first week of the following week by telling themselves

"if we find him punctuated and red-eyed, we will pierce him with a thornbone, and his veins beneath his knees with a knife of black skin will be broken, so he will never come again; and if he falls apart, your bride did not become pregnant with Milutin, sock - with someone else ". (Vrčević, 1881: 60-61). It turns out that the corpse is naturally rotten, and there is no talk of a vampire!

As we have seen, the lid is a permanent attribute of vampires, because he is a chronic demon. Among the first ones, Čajkanović set the hypothesis that our greatest supreme god is a chronic divinity, which in fact was not "originally nothing more than the greatest and oldest vampire". "The physical connection between the deity, the demon and the dead woman is also a favorite motif in mythology." Hence, as great lovers, especially the chthonic deities and demons appear; in this group and a dragon and a somewhat vampire.

Interesting is a toponym with the basis of "vampire" in Serbia, in the vicinity of Požarevac: Vampirača. There is a Vukodlac Mountain in Nevesinje. It is very indicative that in Istria, in the vicinity of Perunkovac, in which area we find numerous toponyms of the Serbian language editorial, it appears twice as the toponym Tenčici - as the name of smaller settlements. In Bulgaria, in the Pleven area, there is an interesting toponym Tencha, which could point to another variant of "vampire" in the form of "tenac". Otherwise, for someone who has been vamping in eastern Serbia and northwestern Bulgaria, he says: "he has gotten himself."

#### Citations

1. http://www.bulgarian-folklore.com/articles.php?article\_id=226
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20090331041243/http://svevlad.org.rs/knjige\_files/petrovic\_mitologija.html
3. McClelland, Bruce A. (2006). *Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead*. University of Michigan. pp. 62–79. ISBN 978-0-472-06923-1.

## Sabbatianoí

It may be remembered that Saturday was the one day of the week which was particularly avoided by witches for their assemblies, and that no Sabbat was held on this day. for Saturday is sacred to the Immaculate Mother of God. "It is well known," says that great Doctor S. Alphonsus, "that Saturday is dedicated by Holy Church to Mary, because, as S. Bernard tells us, on that day, the day after the death of Her Son, She remained constant in faith." (Per illud triste Sabbatum stetit in fide, et saluata fuit Ecclesia in ipsa sola; propter quod, aptissime tota Ecclesia, in laudem et gloriam eiusdem Uirginis, diem Sabbati per totius anni circulum celebrare consueuit.) In England this excellent practice of devotion was known as early as Anglo-Saxon times, since in the Leofric Missal a special mass is assigned to Saturdays in honour of Our Lady.

### Region (current)

Macedonia
Greece

## More Info

### Hunter

Dhampir, Vampirović
Yes

### Known Weaknesses

Can see the Invisible, can train a Fetch Dog
Mortal, might become a vampire after death

### Main Card or Side

Main

Mr. G. F. Abbott, in his *Macedonian Folklore*, relates that in Northern Greece "People born on a Saturday (hence called Σαββατιανοὶ or Sabbatarians) are believed to enjoy the doubtful privilege of seeing ghosts and phantasms, and of possessing great influence over vampires. A native of Socho assured the writer that such a one was known to have lured a *vrykolakas* into a barn and to have set him to count the grains of a heap of millet." While the demon was thus engaged, the Sabbatarian attacked him and succeeded in nailing him to the wall . . . At Liakkovikia it is held that the Sabbatarian owes his power to a little dog, which follows him every evening and drives away the *vrykolakas*. It is further said that the Sabbatarian on these occasions is invisible to all but the little dog."

The priests then on a Saturday go in procession to the grave where lies the body which is suspect. It is solemnly disinterred, "and when they find it whole, they take it for certain that it was serving as an instrument of the Devil."

This abnormal condition of the dead is held to be a sure mark of the vampire, and is essential to vampirism proper. In the Greek Church it is often believed to be the result of excommunication, and this is indeed an accepted and definite doctrine of the Orthodox Church, which must be considered in turn a little later.

#### additional notes / excerpts

In addition to the ordinary Vrykolakas who delights in human blood, the Macedonians believe in the existence of a Vrykolakas of sheep and cattle. He is represented as riding on their shoulders, sucking their blood, and killing them. Quacks, especially Mohammedan dervishes, profess to have the power of exterminating these inferior vampires, whence they are known as " vampire-killers," and go about ostentatiously parading an iron rod ending in a sharp point (shish), or a long stick armed with a small axe on the top.

People born on a Saturday (hence called Sabbatianoí or Sabbatarians) are believed to enjoy the doubtful privilege of seeing ghosts and phantasms, and of possessing great influence over vampires. A native of Sochos assured the writer that such a one was known to have lured a Vrykolakas into a barn and to have set him to count the grains of a heap of millet. While the demon was thus engaged, the Sabbatarian attacked him and succeeded in nailing him to the wall. The story presents several points of interest. First, the nailing of an evil being to a wall is a notion familiar to the Macedonian mind. It may even be found embodied in folk-songs. Some children's rhymes, which I heard from a girl of the same village, began with the words :

thou Ghost buried

And to the wall nailed !

This notion is closely connected with the ancient Roman practice of warding off evil by driving a nail into a wall, and the kindred superstitions still prevalent among the peasants of European countries. 1 The Macedonian belief may be regarded as more primitive than any of these parallels ; for it is based on the idea that personal and, so to speak, substantial spirits can thus be transfixed ; not only abstract calamities. Another interesting point offered by the above tale is the belief in the exceptional endowment of people born at a certain time. With this superstition may be compared the one mentioned by Mr Andrew Lang as prevailing in Scotland, namely, "that children born between midnight and one o'clock will be second-sighted."

Furthermore, as Saturday the birthday of the Macedonian Sabbatarians is the seventh day of the week, these favoured mortals may claim kinship with the seventh sons, who among ourselves are credited with the faculty of curing diseases by the touch, and the like. In this connection it may also be noted that a firstborn child is in Macedonia supposed to possess supernatural powers over a hail-storm. If such a child swallows a few grains of hail, the storm will immediately cease.

At Liakkovikia it is held that the Sabbatarian owes his power to a little dog, which follows him every evening and drives away the Vrykolakas. It is further said that the Sabbatarian on those occasions is invisible to all but the little dog. Perhaps it would not be a mistake to explain the little dog as representing the " Fetch " or natal spirit of the Sabbatarian, a spirit which to this day is fond of assuming a canine form in Iceland.

#### Citations

1. *The Vampire, His Kith and Kin*, by Montague Summers, [1928], THE ORIGINS OF THE VAMPIRE http://www.sacred-texts.com/goth/vkk/vkk03.htm
2. McClelland, Bruce (2006). Slayers and their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472069233.
3. Abbott, George F. (1903). Macedonian Folklore. pp. 221–222 https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich/page/220

## Paranormal Television

In recent years several pseudo-scientific entertainment shows have claimed they have filmed actual, currently living Sabbatarians taking part in real Vampire Hunts.

### Expedition Unknown with Josh Gates

Official Synopsis:

Josh scours Eastern Europe to confront both the ancient origins and modern legacy of the vampire legend. Josh's investigation leads him to a Romanian cemetery, but will he leave in one piece when confronted by angry locals?

Season 2, Episode 4: Hunting Vampires (orig air date 28 October 2015)

While Ivo Maev does not claim to be a Sabbatarian, he does perform a Sabbatarian ritual for the benefit of the show. The main criticisms for this episode are that Josh (or someone at the network) was far too quick to jump on the press surrounding the desecration of Petre Toma's grave and played up the incident simply for the sake of ratings.

Later Criticism: After the premier of Buried Worlds there were several claims that some of the villagers seen in the background of Josh's show appeared to now be claiming to be vampire hunters for the benefit of Occult Tourists.

#### Citations

1. https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/expedition-unknown/episodes/hunting-vampires
2. https://www.discovery.com/shows/expedition-unknown/episodes/hunting-vampires
3. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5138466/
4. http://vampirologist.blogspot.com/2009/01/case-of-petre-toma.html

### Buried Worlds with Don Wildman

Official Synopsis from the Travel Chanel:

New evidence of vampiric activity takes Don to Bulgaria, where he joins a vampire hunt and searches for demonic spirits in a dangerous mountain cave. In Hungary he visits the subterranean prison that once held the world's most-famous vampire -- Dracula.

Season 1, Episode 5: Vampire Hunt (orig air date 08 June 2020)

During the course of the show, Don and his filming crew meet up with a group of men who say they are Sabbatarians, though this cannot be verified, and joins them for a rough investigation of a supposed vampire. Questions have been raised after first viewings that these men were seen on the Josh Gates show and were not, then, vampire hunters.

#### Citations

1. https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/buried-worlds-with-don-wildman/episodes/vampire-hunt
2. https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/buried-worlds-with-don-wildman-travel-channel-series-uncovers-the-worlds-dark-history/

## Demetrius

An interesting newspaper report turned up in the Australian Trove and you can read the full clipping on it's dedicated page A Slayer of Vampires 1918. While the accuracy of it is unverified at this time it describes the life and job of a self-professed vampire hunter that borrows heavily from Sabbatarian lore. Including battling invisible vampires that only Demetrius could see at the behest of his neighbors who complained that the creatures were killing their sheep. Though the vampires that Demetrius "battles" have a number of curious traits, namely that they can be killed with ordinary rifle-shot and they exist only as spirits and once they are "shot" they dissolve into a pool of blood. Another point the article makes is just how much Demetrius' services cost - when adjusted for inflation and converted to US Dollar, we're looking at approximately $1,780.

### Citations

1. Esses, Don. "A Slayer of Vampires." Kalgoorlie Miner (Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia), November 18, 1918, Vol 24 No. 6190 ed. Accessed January 13, 2018.

## Vampirov & Prnyarevitch

Sometime in 1933 a man in Veles (Today: Велес, North Macedonia), called Prnyarevitch, sought out the services of a vampire hunter who the newspaper clipping called "Vampirov". Vampirov asked for a rifle, a band and roughly a keg. At some point during the party they started doing a line dance - the type of dance is not named - and the hunter fired at the end of a row. A goo of some kind of was found on the floor, the crowd was satisfied that the vampire had joined the dance, invisible, and had been dispatched by the hunter.

### Citations

1. SHOOTING A "VAMPIRE" (1933, December 23). The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), p. 19 (HOME EDITION). Retrieved September 7, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article85180631

## Fetch Dogs

* Main Article: Fetch Dog

A beloved companion of Sabbatarians which aids them in their battle against their mortal enemy. The Fetch Dog is an invisible creature, only seen by their human companion and sometimes the Sabbatarian can't even see them, only hear them. It is believed to a combination of both Greek and Norse lore; the Greek Fetch Spirit and the Norse Fylgja. They can appear as a dog, a bird, horse, wolf, bear or even in some cases a dragon. An interesting note is that once the Fetch Dog's work is done and the Sabbatarian takes over to Bottle the vampire, some town believe that the invisibility is reversed. The Human disappears and their companion is seen.

### additional notes / excerpts

At Liakkovikia it is held that the Sabbatarian owes his power to a little dog, which follows him every evening and drives away the Vrykolakas. It is further said that the Sabbatarian on those occasions is invisible to all but the little dog. Perhaps it would not be a mistake to explain the little dog as representing the " Fetch " or natal spirit of the Sabbatarian, a spirit which to this day is fond of assuming a canine form in Iceland.

#### Citations

Preferably Link to In Author Page

1. *The Vampire, His Kith and Kin*, by Montague Summers, [1928], THE ORIGINS OF THE VAMPIRE http://www.sacred-texts.com/goth/vkk/vkk03.htm
2. Perkowski, Jan (2006). Vampire Lore. Slavica.
3. Abbott, George F. (1903). Macedonian Folklore. pp. 221–222 https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich/page/220

## Page Sources

* *The Vampire, His Kith and Kin*, by Montague Summers, [1928], THE ORIGINS OF THE VAMPIRE http://www.sacred-texts.com/goth/vkk/vkk03.htm
* McClelland, Bruce (2006). Slayers and their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472069233.
* Abbott, George F. (1903). Macedonian Folklore. pp. 221–222 https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich/page/220

* http://www.bulgarian-folklore.com/articles.php?article\_id=226
* https://web.archive.org/web/20090331041243/http://svevlad.org.rs/knjige\_files/petrovic\_mitologija.html

* http://politicard1.blogspot.com/2013/10/las-creencias-sobre-vampiros.html
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire\_hunter
* Perkowski, Jan (2006). Vampire Lore. Slavica.
* Gregory, Constantine, and Craig Glenday. *The Vampire Watchers Handbook: A Guide for Slayers*. New York: St. Martins Griffin, 2003.