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Garlic has been used for centuries in recipes and herbal remedies
Garlic has been used in Romania for centuries to ward off evil. in Romania, garlic is a weapon of choice against vampires. Romanians used to make certain that they ate some garlic every day for their personal protection, little did they know they were helping out their hearts as well. They also smeared garlic on the windows, doors of their houses, on the gates to their farmyards, and even on the horns of their cattle. They believed that the undead had a great fear of garlic. I would too. The stuff tastes divine but smells awful! In Romania if a corpse was thought to be in danger of becoming a vampire, one of the most common protection was stuffing some pieces of garlic into the orifices of the corpse, especially the mouth. This was done in order to prevent evil spirits from entering the dead body. What it probably did was kept germs from entering the body through these, ah orifices. I'll just stop there. Another interesting vampire practice is smearing the corpse with a mixture of oil, fat, incense, gunpowder and - of course - garlic. That was probably a pretty good embalming method.
So we now come to the part about blood and garlic. In ancient times the Romanians used it to ward off evil but it actually had a huge health benefit. Science has proven that when garlic has been ingested and processed by the body it goes into the blood stream. In fact you may have had the faint odor of garlic on your body after eating lots of garlic the night before. Now this is enough to keep anyone away from you. Just kidding but in fact what is happening in the blood stream is just that. Viruses are cruising around the blood stream and suddenly they come across a little bit of garlic. What does the virus do? It leaves! Science has proven that viruses are repelled by the smell of the garlic. In studies done in the united states garlic was seen in the blood to actually repel viruses. Scientists believe that the disease cells react to the smell of the garlic and are repelled by it. In some cultures garlic it eaten to prevent or get rid of worms. Although please do not give any to your dog as it and chocolate are lethal because their bodies cannot metabolize the garlic and it causes kidney failure.
Dracula, one of the most famous characters in the world, is always linked to Romania. More precisely, with Transylvania (a Romanian province), which is believed to be a foggy mysterious land, with lots of vampires and castles.
Vlad the Impaler was probably born in Sighisoara, in the year 1431, in the house where his father, Vlad the 2nd Dracul had lived for 5 years. That house still exists today, as a restaurant, but it has kept some parts of the old medieval paintings.
Vlad the 2nd (the Impaler`s father) was a knight of the Dragon`s order, founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg for fighting against the Turks. The members of this order used to wear at the neck a medallion representing a dragon. The people, not being used to the image of the dragon, nicknamed the ruler Vlad with the devil and then Vlad the Devil (Vlad Dracul). In the Romanian language the words dragon and devil(drac) are very similar. So, Vlad the Impaler was named Draculea and then Dracula, meaning the son of Dracul. Bram Stokers Dracula was written by an Irishman in London. He had never been to Romania and based his writings on information gathered from London's British Museum, London's libraries and folk lore. It was a very notable book during 1897 and it made Stoker a famous man. Finally the best movie made about Dracula was Directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, Uncle to Nicolas Cage and director of probably one of the most famous films ever, The Godfather. Here Dracula is played to perfection by Gary Oldman and is good looking and seductive and eventually woos Meena. In the book he woos Lucy. The film won academy awards for set and costume design and a nomination to Gary Oldman for his devastating performance of Dracul.
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