Dance mania or dance plague is recorded as a social phenomenon that occurred in Europe, especially between the 14th and 17th centuries. This strange phenomenon occurred among groups of people dancing for no reason, men, women and children, at times foaming at the mouth, dancing wildly in the streets of towns or villages until they fainted from exhaustion.
An event that took place in Aachen, Germany, in 1374. dance crazeIt was one of the first large-scale examples of . The people not only screamed and had visions and hallucinations on the open roads, but they also danced and twirled even when they were too tired to stand. This dance, which seems innocent at first, soon becomes Choreomania named and It has spread to many parts of Europe.
This extraordinary condition affected thousands of people and was documented in detail in contemporary reports. However, there is no consensus among scientists as to the cause of this dance craze, and various theories have been put forward. dance to death People who did so eventually succumbed to fatigue and died due to heart attacks.
Theories About the Unresolved Dance Craze What Caused It
This interesting phenomenon is a mystery that continues to this day, and experts have not come to a definitive conclusion as to what causes the dancing. The book “The Black Death and The Dancing Mania”, published in 1888, reveals that this epidemic in Germany was neither the first nor the last example of similar madness called the St. John Dance. Justus Friedrich Karl Hecker originally described the Dance of St. John as follows:
”They held hands and formed circles. As if they had lost control of their senses, they continued to dance for hours, ignoring the onlookers and in a wild delirium until they finally collapsed from exhaustion. Then they groaned as if on their deathbed, complaining of intense oppression. “When they were wrapped tightly around their waists with cloth, they recovered and their complaints ended until the next seizure.”
This strange disease spread to cities around the Rhine River, such as Liege, Utrecht, Tongres, in the Netherlands and Belgium. In different times and situations, this madness “St. Vitus Dance” was named. During the Middle Ages, the church believed that those who danced were possessed by the devil or possibly cursed by a saint. In Italy it is “Tarantism” It was said that this was the effect of the spider bite or the poison injected by the arachnid.
More modern explanations blame a toxin produced by a fungus that grows on rye. Steven Gilbert notes that ergot poisoning, or ergotism, can lead to hallucinations, convulsions, and delusions caused by psychoactive chemicals produced by the Claviceps purpurea (Rye spur) fungus.
However, according to Robert E. Bartholomew’s article in the July/August 2000 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, it was noted that not all of the regions affected by this strange uncontrollable dance were home to people who consumed rye. Additionally, outbreaks did not always occur during the rainy season when fungi thrived.
The St. Vitus Dance was later named Sydenham’s Chorea, a disorder that occurs in children and causes involuntary twitching in the arms, legs, and face. However, twitches in this disease dance craze It was not similar to the descriptions about him.
The Thought That Supernatural Forces Forced Them To Dance
Another notable epidemic occurred in the city of Strasbourg in 1518, John Waller wrote on the BBC. The epidemic started in July when a woman named Frau Troffea danced. Within a month, 400 people participated in this madness. This epidemic was probably made worse by well-intentioned officials who thought the victims needed to dance and feel good. Officials arranged guild halls for dancers and hired professional pipe and drum players and dancers to impress.
According to Waller’s account, in 1518 the people of Strasbourg suffered from famine, disease and supernatural powers He was struggling with the thought that he was forcing them to dance. The region was previously occupied in 1374. black plague He was affected by the epidemic and this time he was facing another epidemic. According to Waller’s claim, the dancers were under intense psychological pressure, and due to this stress, they could go into the trance state they needed to dance for a long time. Waller attributed the dance craze to mass hysteria.
However, Bartholomew opposed this thesis. Based on records from the period, he pointed out that the dancers mostly came from other regions. According to him, these people were pilgrims and their dances included rituals that were not in accordance with Christian tradition. Some sources, “dancing cult” He stated that these groups, which they called ‘Songs’, performed unknown rituals in addition to the known worships.
Perhaps when a few people began these strange rituals, others claimed to be affected and joined in. In this way, it was difficult to resist uncontrolled behavior without social prohibitions. As a result, the cause of the dance craze still remains a mystery. This mystery looks set to remain an interesting and unsolved part of European history.
