Saturday, May 7, 2016

They Were Seized With Madness And Danced





"If you watched a modern interpretative dance... you may well conclude the dancer was having some kind of seizure and perhaps suffering some pain or disease to cause such 
unnatural motions." (Via Adrienne's Catholic Corner)


We like to imagine, understandably, that liturgical dance is a modern phenomenon, brought on by the madness of our troubled age. But that's not true, otherwise normal Christians have been seized by dancing insanity in the past.


In the 14th and 15th centuries, dancing "plagues" gripped whole regions of Europe. Even convents were not immune:


Not long before the Strasbourg dancing epidemic, an equally strange compulsion had gripped a nunnery in the Spanish Netherlands. In 1491 several nuns were ‘possessed’ by devilish familiars which impelled them to race around like dogs, jump out of trees in imitation of birds or miaow and claw their way up tree trunks in the manner of cats. Such possession epidemics were by no means confined to nunneries, but nuns were disproportionately affected (Newman, 1998). Over the next 200 years, in nunneries everywhere from Rome to Paris, hundreds were plunged into states of frantic delirium during which they foamed, screamed and convulsed, sexually propositioned exorcists and priests, and confessed to having carnal relations with devils or Christ.
What causes this "dancing madness"? Is it Satan, mind-altering drugs, or a simple case of mental illness? Whatever the cause, the affliction has resurfaced in our own time. And remember...

Liturgical Dance is not awesome,

LSP 





12 comments:

infidel de manahatta said...

Fire and liturgical dance bad! ~ Frankenstein

LSP said...

It's rather special, isn't it, Infidel.

LL said...

200 years ago that behavior was chalked up to mold on rye grain (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/) but modern people don't have that excuse.

LSP said...

That's right, LL. The old ergot defense isn't going to fly this time. So, is it Satan?

LL said...

Satan, magic mushrooms, spiders living in the cerebral cortex and giving birth to young in there? Difficult to say without an autopsy.

Anonymous said...

Funny that in London you never see liturgical dance at any of the local Mosques. May be the new Mayor of London will introduce it.

LSP said...

I hadn't thought of the spiders, LL. Scary, like liturgical dance itself.

LSP said...

Who knows, Anonymous, maybe Londonistan will become the whirling dervish/sufi capital of the world under its new Khan.

lukeya said...

God how awful. The very few congregants look deeply embarrassed at this goofing off.

LL said...

Speaking of the new Khan of London, he has some interesting friends who are terror watch lists. Since 50% of Londoners are foreign born now, the introduction of Sharia Law and Muslim leadership makes sense. Does that mean that Lambeth Palace (London) will be the residence of the Imam of Great Britain? It's only a matter of time. Once you hit that tipping point, democracy begins to work against you.

It's a great case for Donald Trump.

LSP said...

I don't know about you, Lukeya, but I found it difficult to watch; that's what happens when the clowns are running the circus. Did you notice the reaction of the young man with dreadlocks?

LSP said...

I don't know much about Londonistan's new Khan and I'm guessing he's a "moderate," but what happens when immoderate Muslims are in charge? Maybe their friends on the left won't be too pleased when the sharia police come knocking.

I predict it will end in tears, and worse.