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The myths of garlic and silver reppeling vampires and werewolves away has been around for ages but im unsure as to why this is so. Is there some kind of symbolism to this or did someone just make it up. thank you for your answers

Well in herb lore, garlic is said to be a particularly strong repellent of evil and negative energies/spirits. As for the silver....not too sure. It's the Moon Metal, but I don't see why that would kill a werewolf....

I agree with the above post. In the past, garlic was considered a very good antiseptic and, if I may say a "wonder herb".

As for silver:

Because of the mysticism surrounding silver's lunar associations, as well as the aesthetic qualities of the white, reflective metal that cause it to be associated with purity, silver in European Folklore has long been traditionally believed to be an antidote to various maladies and fictional monsters. Notably, silver was believed to be a repellant against vampires (this primarily originates from its holy connotations; also, mirrors were originally polished silver, and as such, vampires allegedly cannot be seen in them because they are wicked) and it was believed that a werewolf, in his bestial form, could only be killed by a weapon or bullet made of silver, and was equally effective against vampires, as described in Eastern European folklore. This has given rise to the term "silver bullet", which is used to describe things that very effectively deal with one specific problem.

http://www.3rd1000.com/elements/Silver.htm

Garlic was never a ward for vampires. It was merely misinterpreted. You see, way back in the days of the witch and vampire hunts, the hunters would put garlic around their necks in order to disquise the smell of the rotting corpse suspected to be either witch or vampire.

Unbeknownst to the hunters, garlic was a natural antioxidant. The witches knew, which is why when the plagues were rampant, not all women fell to the dreadful diseases. Which in turn led society to believe them to be witches immune to the diseases.

Later, since the hunters wore the garlic to ward of said smell, it was again misinterpreted as being a ward from vampires.

Silver on the other hand, was initially called "moon metal". This metal stemmed into to fray of werewolf hunts as well as wolfsbane, and roses. Since the wolf is always related to a fullmoon, the silver was supposed to destroy the beast. Although with earlier folklore, it was ment as protection. Whether or not this protection was for or from the wolf itself, is unknown.

Thank you everyone for these answers

That is hollywood for ya.
Bastardizing us vampires and the werewolves.
Hollywood needed something to do.
Garlic and Silver to repel and kill a vampire and werewolf is shear fucking myth.

In the ancient battle of good against evil people had to have some kind of protection from what they percieved as ungodly.

It did'nt matter a damn if it had no scientific reason for working....they believed it would and that was good enough for the times.

Myth and story telling beefs up what once may have held a grain of truth.

There's some truth for garlic. Did you know that people you take garlic pills don't get bitten by mosquitos? Now... when these people sweat, they stink :P But it's an amazing deterrent.

garlic is the blood helps the heart...that is probably why...

Garlic cleanses , silver is pure.

Garlic its good for the heart and the running of the blood. I think used to repell vampires due to the smell and silver bullets had something to do with the lunar

i know that i cant wear silver for it burns my skin so it might me a chemical reaction to it.

That’s most likely the copper in the silver. Standard Silver used in jewelery making is also known and stamped as .925 silver, 92.5 % pure silver and 7.5% other metals namely copper. Mexican silver contains more copper than standard silver and more likely to cause a rash and tarnish a lot quicker….I just knew jewelery making would come in handy one day lol

a good post I go along with soul on this and yet i think hollywood has had to find away to kill their monsters and these lores helped in their aid.

*giggles*

cute little myths. i dont believe them. altho, i am Lycan and i eat garlic, but, silver dont effect me, for heavens sake, i got earings and suck, and wear a silver necklace.

garlic also detoxify your body ( get rid of all bad toxins in the blood)

Most wards against evil have been historically a form of pagan medicine first. Garlic has many healthy properties that probably helped strengthen immune systems. Since most vampire lore is closely related to communicable diseases like TB, anything that kept people in better health could have generated a mythology about warding off evil ghosts or vampires.

The world is still learning how powerful silver is for antibacterial properties. It's used in bandages and surgery because it promotes a cleaner healing.

i think it's just a grand hollywood myth. i cannot fid anything that says that garlic repels vampires truly anywhere.

Garlic and Silver came from Hollywood. Because garlic smells it came in good from them and silver cost and fit the bill.

Some say a condition called porphyria or porphyrins explained early vampires and werewolves folklore.
Some of the symptoms were aggravated by garlic and sunlight!

Garlic is a cleansing item, it detoxifies the body and is considered pure, vampire are considered dirty evil creatures and can not be in the preseence of something so pure, as per the silver, I have heard it is a pure metal, maybe goes on the same concept.

I do not believe in either of the two harming or killing vampyres or werewolves,made up stories of the two is how I see it,but I fully agree with others about garlic used by witches of the craft or for health purposes

https://www.vampirerave.com/message.php?id=465959&archived=1

Good catch Oceanne, I suggest we all contribute to this other forum thread.

it is probably a little of both the healing propertiys of garlic with the purity of silver and then you add in myth and hollywood

ya i think its just all hollywood. stuff that producers made up

The only reason I think that people believe garlic repels vampires is because they wouldn't like to be around the stuff. With sensitive smell garlic would smell much worse to them than it does to us.

Probably because for the same reason as blackthorn is sometimes used.

I agree with Sinora. People back in those days, and even now feel they need something to protect them from evil. Whether it really does or not does not matter to them. It is their belief that it works that they feel protects them. Sort of like the whole vampires being afraid of crosses thing. People feel they need some protection against what scares them. Like the child who sleeps with a nith light because the dark scares them. Is the night light really protecting them or is it simply a security blanket...