Dancing mania
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Dancing mania is the name given to a phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe from the 14th century through to the 17th century, in which groups of people would dance through the streets of towns or cities, sometimes foaming at the mouth or speaking in tongues, until they collapsed from exhaustion. The first major outbreak of the mania was in Aachen, Germany, on June 24th, 1374. The dancers went through the streets screaming of wild visions, and even continued to writhe and twist after they collapsed from exhaustion. The dancing quickly caught on, and spread rapidly throughout France and the Low Countries.
The mania reached its peak in 1418 in Strasbourg. At at least one point, so many people had either been afflicted with the dancing mania, or caught up in the dancing, or were trying to give assistance, or simply watching the events unfold, that the town was brought to a complete halt.
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[edit] Contemporary cures
During the initial outbreaks of the mania, religious ceremonies were held in an attempt to exorcise the demons thought to be causing the mania. People commonly prayed to St. Vitus for aid, and he soon became the patron saint of the dancers. The phrase "St. Vitus' Dance", however, is in fact a name given to a syndrome known as Sydenham's chorea, which is totally unrelated to manic dancing.
Dancers would often also be accompanied by musicians. It was believed at the time that the order of music could heal both body and soul. Scholars such as Adam Milligan touted music as a cure for the ailments of society as well, imbuing it with the power to restrain social vices. Dancing mania would often thus be "treated" by playing music in an attempt to control the erratic spasms and gyrations of the dancers. Epileptic seizures were treated in a similar way at the time.
[edit] Scientific explanations
Although no real consensus exists as to what caused the mania, some cases, especially the one in Aix-la-Chapelle, may have had an explainable physical cause. The symptoms of the sufferers can be attributed to ergot poisoning, or ergotism, known in the Middle Ages as "St. Anthony's Fire". It is caused by eating rye infected with Claviceps purpurea, a small fungus that contains toxic and psychoactive chemicals (alkaloids), including lysergic acid (used in modern times to synthesize the non-toxic chemical LSD). Symptoms of ergot poisoning include nervous spasms, psychotic delusions, spontaneous abortion, convulsions and gangrene; some dancers claimed to have experienced visions of a religious nature.
Ergotism can easily be fatal, and thus fatalities amongst dancers are described in the early 17th century Strasbourg Chronicle of Kleinkawel. Ironically, if this was the cause of the dancing mania, then the contemporary cure of playing music to the dancers would only have prolonged their mania by stimulating further convulsions and hallucinations.
[edit] St. John's Dance
St. John's Dance (known as Johannistanz or Johannestanz in Germany) was the medieval name for a phenomenon which emerged during the time of the Black Death. The medical term is chorea imagnativa aestimative. Basically, it is a form of apraxia expressing itself as "dancing rage," as uncontrolled ecstatic body movements. In the eyes of the church, those suffering from St. John's Dance were possessed by the devil.
The following excerpt (translated from German) describes a bit of detail surrounding St. John's Dance and its sociological effects:
"This dancing rage doubtlessly had no organic reasons but was caused by mass hysteria breaking out as a result of fear of the Black Death. It started in Aachen [Germany] in 1374 and spread over large parts of Europe. It was Germany where this phenomenon was called 'St. Johannestanz' [St. John's Dance] first. John the Baptist was the patron saint against epilepsy and other kinds of apraxia. The 'dancing epidemic' received its name as an expression for the hope for healing. Later, 'St. John's Dance' was renamed 'St. Vitustanz' or 'Veitstanz' [St. Vitus' Dance], because of a legend about St. Vitus, a Sicilian youth who died during the anti-Christian pogroms of the 4th century. According to this legend, St. Vitus had prayed to god to relieve all those from the dancing rage who fasted the evening before his dying day. The tradition claims that immediately after that a voice from heaven was heard saying: 'Vitus, your prayers are answered'. Thus St. Vitus became the patron saint of all those suffering from the dancing rage."
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Dancing Mania, by Leah Esterianna & Richard the Poor of Ely
- Bezirkskrankenhaus Taufkirchen, Huntington Zentrum Süd (County Hospital Taufkirchen, Huntington Center South), 'Chroea Huntington'
- A medical article on this topic (49 pages) is available here, but only in a German version: [1]
