The Middle Ages gave Europe a huge amount of dangerous and harmful superstitions. Moreover, their creators and distributors were the most authoritative categories: doctors and Catholic priests, since they received at least some kind of education. This knowledge was quite enough for self-confident "specialists" to impose their opinion on an even more ignorant population.
Among the monasteries there was a struggle for the flock: after all, it was a source of income, therefore all sorts of wonderful objects, parts of the bodies of saints, stories of incredible cures were born. The priests argued that it is preferable for the saints when the pilgrims move in some strange way, for example, jumping backwards. In this case, the believer was more likely to get what he wanted.
Historical examples
A religious rite dedicated to St. Vitus originated in the 14th century in Germany. To get new opportunities, strengths, health, it was required to dance in front of the statue of this character on his day (June 15). Soon this method spread throughout Europe and became the most popular version of communication with higher powers.
It is not surprising that religious superstition was especially pronounced in Europe in the fourteenth century. In the middle of the century, several plague epidemics swept through. Due to heavy rains, there were several lean years, and the Rhine overflowed the banks and flooded cities, villages and arable land.
German historian of the XIX century Justas Hecker reports on a number of recorded cases of mass psychosis, when people, in the process of their convulsive dances, lost any adequacy and resembled epileptics.
One of the first cases of mass dancing took place near the Kolbiga convent.
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In Utrecht, about two hundred dancers gathered on the bridge over the Rhine, as a result, the bridge collapsed and all the dancers drowned.
In Erfurt, the mad dance craze has gripped over a hundred children.
In 1374, the faithful gathered for a prayer service to John the Baptist, but the religious celebrations unexpectedly turned into crazy historical dances.
More than 500 people danced in Cologne. Groups of people in the grip of delusions and hallucinations united in round dances that moved along the streets, accompanying their path with outlandish body movements. They rolled on the ground foaming at their mouths, pulling out their hair and uttering wild screams.
The streets of the city of Metz were filled with a mass of jumping and screaming people: at the same time, about 1,500 people jumped along the streets in complete frenzy. Many experienced hallucinations that were taken for religious inspiration.
In Strasbourg in 1518, “hundreds of men and women danced and jumped in the market square, in the alleys and in the streets. The women took shameless poses, tumbled and stood on their heads. Many didn’t eat anything for several days until the disease subsided”…
Hungarian writer and historian Istvan Rath-Veg quotes an entry in the Great Belgian Chronicle from 1374, which reads: “This year crowds of outlandish people arrived in Aachen and from here moved to France. Creatures of both sexes, inspired by the devil, danced hand in hand in the streets, in houses, in churches, jumping and screaming without any shame. Exhausted from dancing, they complained of chest pain and, wiping themselves with handkerchiefs, lamented that it was better to die. Finally, in Lüttih, they managed to get rid of the infection through prayers and blessings."
It is clarified that these possessed were driven into a rage by the red color and attracted by the water, so they often threw themselves into the water and drowned. Many could not stand their hearts and fell dead. After passing through such processions, lifeless bodies of people who died from heart attacks or from exhaustion remained on earth.
In 1418, the dancers were declared insane and possessed by a demon, they were caught and locked up in the church.
Crazy dances: how they attracted people
Getting a person pleasure is associated with the production of certain hormones in the body. You can have fun in a variety of ways: through sex, delicious food, shopping, travel, beautiful music, achievements in sports or science. There are people who enjoy antisocial actions: offending the weak, stealing something. In any case, the corresponding hormone, dopamine, enters the brain; the reflex is fixed, and the person again seeks to perform the same actions for the sake of feeling joy and satisfaction. Pleasure hormones are necessary for a person to maintain health: if life is boring and joyless, various diseases develop, such as Parkinson's disease.
There are also workarounds for getting the same sensations: through drugs or alcohol. However, such an artificial method leads to disruption of metabolic processes in the structure of the brain and as a result, the same diseases arise as with a lack of positive.
The dance of St. Vitus, a hectic physical activity accompanied by an unloading of the brain, also stimulated the production of the hormone of pleasure. From this point of view, the statement that the rite gives additional strength was correct. Another thing is that it was the same artificial method as drugs, and had the same destructive effect on the brain. Psychosis and hysterical trance developed.
Poisoning as the cause of St. Vitus's dance
Before the import of potatoes from America, rye bread served as the basis of Europeans' nutrition. In rainy years, at low temperatures and high humidity, a fungus called "ergot" developed in the grains. It was difficult to recognize it in dark rye grains, so it got into food and caused severe poisoning: ergotism. There were two types of symptoms:
1. As a result of taking low doses, patients developed aggressive behavior, mental disorders, severe pain and blockage of capillary blood vessels, because of this, gangrene could begin;
2. High doses of ergot alkaloids resulted in involuntary muscle contractions, uncontrolled convulsive movements and excruciating death.
Due to the similarity of movements, ergot poisoning and the conscious ritual were called the same: Dance of St. Vitus. Often these two factors were mixed, and when dangerous symptoms appeared, people began to dance vigorously in the hope that this ritual would help them to heal.
Scientists state the fact that the symptoms of poisoning had differences and were regional in nature. It is assumed that the cause is ergot mutations and a different composition of alkaloids.
Saint Vitus and paganism
As a historical figure, Saint Vitus lived in Sicily during the time of the emperor Diocletian. He converted to Christianity as a child under the influence of his mentor. Witt was given to be torn apart by lions, but the predators were not interested in him, and then the young Christian was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil. It happened in 303, and 1200 years later, a bizarre Catholic ritual was named after him.
The dances were reminiscent of the mad rituals of the Bacchantes, Bassarids, Maenads, Corybans and other priests of pagan antiquity. For many hours the dancers performed erratic, convulsive movements, jumping in all directions; rolled on the ground and uttered inarticulate screams. In ancient times, there was even a name for such a dance: "chorea". It is currently a neurological term for the symptoms of diseases that lead to uncontrolled, erratic movements.
It is known that in antiquity most of the participants had to first "warm themselves up" with wine or other stimulants, and then their active and meaningless actions completely suppressed the brain. The dancers went into an uncontrollable frenzy, and there were frequent cases of murder during these rituals. According to legend, the singer and mystic Orpheus fell under the hot hand of the dancing maenads and was torn to pieces by them.
Galina Pogodina