wrod. I almost felt like I didn't want to follow them.

“I know this violates the whole ‘sit there and look pretty’ thing but Scooby Doo on acid is my job isn’t he?”

I think I just burned the inside of my septum, blowing coffee through it.

A three headed hound of hell. Scooby Doo on Acid. Tell me his name isn't Baskerville.

More seriously, I like the musings on tribal memory - and do Jewish vampires cower away from crosses? Because, why should they?

Also? That picture of Kay in his head...ouch.

Ow! Really? I don't know...but that would be something Munch would think about. He gets kind of preoccupied with the identity thing."What if we're all part of some larger creature's fantasy?" or whatnot. Well, I figured he would think about it because he would know what that sort of stuff looks like

Yes! Jewish vampires and crosses! Inquiring ficcers need to know!

edit: of course, in other vamp universes, it's not the faith of the vampire but the faith of the wielder that matters.

I think Joss has said that it's nether the faith of the vampire nor the faith of the wielder, crosses are just "holy."

Which is a weird idea from an atheist, but whatever. I don't know if stars of David (or the muslim/Buddhist/Pagan/etc. equivalents) would also work, though that would have been a neat subplot in S2 -- Willow repells Angelus because she's wearing a star of David necklace.

Munch would probably say that they represent a hierarchy and a seat of power, thereby creeping him out. But I don't really know. Unlike him, I'm not "I've got a theory" about everything. Much.Although it occurs to me I may be getting a Munchkin-obsession instead. So far today, I've gone on at some length about his sexual proclivities in somebody's lj and now am trying to puzzle out his vampire cross-response thing...this can't be good. Over and above the "babe" thing. He's been good for my vocabulary, and coaxed everything I know about philosophy out of hiding, though(there ain't much, babe, but more than I expected)

Very odd idea from an antheist, and I'm pretty convinced that, should I become a vampire, a cross isn't likely to make me so much as blink. I'm not big on symbology as power, just as personal expression.

I wonder, if Willow had been, say, an orthodox Jew and therefore a total believer in her own star of David and the power behind it, if she could have played Van Helsing and made vampires cower back with it?

Because the mythology of vampirism predates Christianity, and certainly western culture.

From what I remember, vampire legends from non-Christian countries don't mention religious symbols repelling vamps.

Now I'm trying to remember if using a cross against vampires is something that Stoker came up with on his own, because I don't remember it in the pre-Dracula folklore; it was all about wild roses and garlic.

"In order to protect yourself from a vampire, the cross or crucifix was thought to be very powerful in the Christian countries. Little is known of how holy symbols were used as vampire protection before the Christian era, however, folk-cures were often employed." Yaaay for Encyclopedia Mythica.

Resistance to a cross increases with age, doesn't it? Angel has managed to keep his reaction to a wince (then snatching the cross from Kate's hand and embedding it in the wall) while lesser vamps actually cower.