Mysterious Plague Strikes Europe, Its Sufferers Dance Until Drop In History Today, June 24, 1374

Dancing illustration (Andrii Zhuk/Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Residents of the German city of Aachen spilled onto the street. They sway, twist, and move like dancers. But they are not enlivening the party, nor holding a flash mob. Not. Their bodies moved uncontrollably. They catch a disease called the dancing plague. The plague that occurred today, June 24, the 14th century, spread rapidly throughout Europe within a few years.

At first, experts weren't sure what caused the furore. Experts As quoted by Smithsonian Magazine, they were confused to see people continue to dance and only stopped when they passed out exhausted.

Until some time later, this disease was known as the plague of the dance of St. John. As described in The Black Death and The Dancing Mania (1888), the writer Justus Friedrich Karl Hecker imaginatively depicts the plague of the dance of St. John.

They formed a circle hand in hand, and seemed to lose all control over their senses, continuing to dance for hours together, in wild delirium, until at last they fell to the ground exhausted. They then complained of an excruciating suffocation and groaned as if as if in the agony of death, until they are wrapped in a cloth tightly tied around their waists, whereupon they recover, and are free from grievances and the situation repeats itself," Hecker wrote.

Dancing plague scene painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The "disease" then spread to Liege, Utrecht, Tongres and other cities in the Netherlands and Belgium, then to the Rhine River area. At other times and in other forms, the dancing plague is also called the dancing plague of St. Vitus. During the Middle Ages, the church held that the dancers had been possessed by demons or cursed by saints. The plague was then called Tarantism in Italy, believed the dance was caused by a spider bite.

Because of mushrooms?

More modern interpretations attribute the dancing plague to a toxin produced by a fungus that grows on rye. Ergot poisoning, or ergotism, can cause hallucinations, seizures, and delusions as a result of the psychoactive chemicals produced by the fungus Claviceps purpurea.

However, not all areas where plague dances have people eating wheat, says Robert E. Bartholomew in an article published in Skeptical Inquirer (2000). In addition, these outbreaks do not always occur during the rainy season when the black fungus grows.

The dancing epidemic broke out again but this time in the city of Strasbourg, France, in 1518. It started when a woman named Frau Troffea started dancing. Then within a month, 400 people started dancing non-stop. This outbreak in particular may be exacerbated by apparently well-meaning officials who think victims just need to dance and let go. They provide halls for dancers, hire pipe players and professional drummers and dancers to keep people inspired.

To quote the BBC, in 1518, the people of Strasbourg were in a struggle over hunger, disease and the belief that supernatural powers could force them to dance. In 1374, the area near the Rhine River suffered from another true plague: the Black Death. A writer named John Waller argues that dancing societies are under extreme psychological stress. Waller called the outbreak actually mass hysteria.

Meanwhile, other studies also believe this bizarre outbreak is an example of a mass psychogenic illness fueled by fear and depression. Both plagues were preceded by a period of devastating famine, crop failure and the spread of disease.

The anxiety and guilt that come along with the deep superstition that God is punishing them for their mistakes, leaves people vulnerable to this strange accidental state. Ultimately, the cause of this dancing plague seems to be a mystery, but it will never cease to be an interesting part of European history.

*Read other information about WORLD HISTORY or read other interesting articles from Putri Ainur Islam.

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