What is Vampyre Culture?

Vampyre Culture is the collection of customs, traditions, arts, social structures, and belief systems of the vampyre community as a whole.

The “Vampyre Community” is really a subculture of individuals that exists throughout the world, and their collective culture while having similar themes is very diverse in the way it manifests. The Vampyre Subculture consists of several communities that have formulated their own set of cultural, ethical, political, spiritual, and sexual principles to distinguish themselves from the standard or conventional values of mainstream society. Individual Vampyres have all pooled together through their different various connections to the vampyre current; however that current manifests for them, and created a widespread “community” through shared common traits and experiences. Theories on why this has occured vary greatly between individuals, yet we’ve all been pulled together to collectively create this subculture.

The Vampyre Subculture’s societal norms, while being a spectrum, often hover around similar ideals and values across the board. Granted, there are varying schools of thought around things like ethics and morality and the origin of the vampyric phenomenon, but that’s no different than any other occult based subculture out there. The commonalities amongst us, regardless of the “why” are unprecedented, and it’s the reason we’ve all landed here together.

Each individual and organization of the Vampyre Community/Subculture is open to interpreting what Vampyre Culture means to them and their members as they see fit. Due to this, the spectrum of what “traditions” are upheld within our culture are vast. But many of us come from lineages that pass down traditions or have influences we are taking lessons from and projecting those lessons into the future. Our culture is built on foundations from several places, and with the continued work of modern vampyre creators today, our culture continues to evolve, blossom, and flourish for a new era. All of us who partake in the teachings the VC has to offer, the books, the websites, the events, the people around us… if you’ve ever taken anything I’ve ever written to heart or enjoyed any of my art… you’ve indulged in Vampyre Culture one way or another. If you’ve ever spoken up during a conversation, had a debate about how things should be in the VC, or written a meaningful article or post for people to see about Vampyrism in any form, shown photos of you in vampyric outfits/makeup/etc, posted opinions on things happening in the VC, etc…. you have influenced Vampyre Culture at least a little bit… and you will continue to the more you do it.

Culture in general is made up of several key elements.

Language, Holidays/Festivals, Rituals/Ceremonies, Pastimes, Food, Art, Music, Aesthetics, Religions/Beliefs, Values, Symbols, Taboos even…

We have all of those things specific to Vampyres, both adopted and created, as well as things we as a subculture collectively partake in that may only be vaguely associated to the vampyre experience. Our individual paths often start to look very similar when compared to side by side… and as members of the Vampyre Community, many of us indulge in and even influence Vampyre Culture knowingly and unknowingly, for better and worse…

Is Vampyre Culture important?

To me, yes… To others? Not always…  although I’d bet it’s more important to them than they let on.

I feel like in my experience with the community there’s two ends of this spectrum. The one side thinks vampyre culture is the dumbest shit ever. They all denounce the lifestyle as unneeded pomp and circumstance and roleplaying, ostracizing anyone who indulges too heavily in “vampire larp” from their midst. (yet still putting on fangs and frock coats going to vampire events too half the time, make that one make sense?!) On the other side there’s everyone who takes it entirely too fucking seriously and treating you like shit if you didn’t know their traditions and etiquette but also couldn’t give you the opportunity to learn it either. Looking down at you from their self made pedestals with crowns on their head pretending to be real royalty…

So I personally know myself and others from my generation of the community have always felt stuck, caught in the center courtyard of many gates being kept that we just can’t get past.

How dare we want to indulge in the culture and how dare we be so young and brash to want to be taught the right ways and not treated like shit. To get decent knowledge we couldn’t be lifestylers, but the lifestylers didn’t want us either.

The older I get the more I understand the hoops one must jump through to reach certain information, but I also continue to understand the importance of a starting point for young community members to find a starting point they can build from. Times are evolving, and the way people learn is evolving with it… which is a part of Vampyre Culture that people aren’t thinking about. (and a big reason why I’m building my courses)

Not for nothing, I do absolutely understand some of the pushback against “lifestylers.” This attitude is bred from the amount of people who show up, slap on a pair of fangs, purchase an ankh, and claim some grandiose shit causing people who have actual tenure in the community to roll their eyes into oblivion.

I get it, truly… I do. I deal with fighting my own jaded shadow on a daily basis when it comes to the community and the people that run through it.

But the culture itself isn’t the problem.

I adore the music, the events, the rituals, the festivals, the art, the performance, the psychodrama… and I don’t think there’s any reason to be ashamed of enjoying the energy of such extravagance. As long as you keep one foot on Earth along the way, why does it matter?

Having unifying elements like language, symbols like our ankh sigils, greetings, etc is a way to create common interests and bonds amongst ourselves and other vampyres to give us a sense of togetherness within our culture, even if they are small things like greetings or gestures.

The song and dance of having people yucking our yum when it comes to Vampyre Culture because we enjoy such things is old and tired. The idea that there’s something wrong with enjoying who and what we are has always been silly, and I’m pledging to leave no room for it in my spaces at this point. *shrug*

xx

P.S. Respect for Reality & Personal responsibility is one of my Coven’s tenets for a reason. Responsible indulgence is always key.

P.P.S. photo from Hidden Shadows/Gotham Halo circa 2002