World Dracula Day

World Dracula Day is May 26th

World Dracula Day is a holiday to celebrate one of literature's most famous characters.

History

Dracula became popular during the pop culture era when Bram Stoker's Dracula came out in 1897. This book and the culture around Dracula and vampires take place in (Transylvania) what is now present day Romania. The character is based on Vlad III Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), sometimes known as Vlad Dracul. Dracula (means “son of Dracul”) which was derived from the Latin word draco meaning dragon. After his father’s induction into the Order of the Dragon, created by Roman Emperor Sigismund for the defense of Christian Europe against the Ottoman Empire. In 1448, Vald III Tepes reclaimed his father’s position as Voivode (European Military commander) after his assassination. During this time is what he is best known for - impaling his enemies with stakes in the ground, leaving them to die. During the time, Stoker wrote his novel Dracula there was the belief of the existence of evil spirits such as ghosts or ‘steregoi’. Steregoi’s are said to live a normal life during the day and at night in their sleep, their souls leave their bodies and haunt the village in their sleep and suffer from the curse of immortality.

Dracula Related Events/Social Groups/Platforms

• World Dracula Congress - held at Trinity College Dublin
• The Children of the Night International Dracula Congress
• World Dracula Day Symposium
• Brian Hayles' radio play Lord Dracula - Father Benedek chronicles his life with Vlad Dracula from his earthly prison to his heavenly hell.
• Cross-Platform Dracula Conference
• Dracula Film Festival
• Transylvanian Society of Dracula
• Whitby Dracula Society
• The Vampire Historian - podcast by Dax Stokes tied with Vamped this year for the Lord Ruthven Award for Media/Popular Culture.
• Vamped - wordpress publication

Ways to Celebrate World Dracula Day

When you think of Dracula, you tend to think of Halloween, or all things spooky or all the vampire and supernatural books and movies we use to read/watch as kids. So this year why not celebrate early and celebrate World Dracula Day? There are all kinds of things to do and ways to get into this day. You can go to conferences and other events, have a movie or book marathon or even do your own research about Dracula.
Just make sure to do everything before it gets dark out!