- St. Vitus' Dance jeb viduslaiku reivs
- 11/3/12 08:20 am
-
The alternate eponym, "Saint Vitus Dance" (šeit būs Bauhaus ļoti kruta dziesma ar tādu pašu nosaukumu, ko klausīties fonā lasot, lai gan tad grūti saprast liriku), is in reference to Saint Vitus, a Christian saint who was persecuted by Roman emperors and died as a martyr in AD 303. Saint Vitus is considered to be the patron saint of dancers, with the eponym given as homage to the manic dancing that historically took place in front of his statue during the feast of Saint Vitus in Germanic and Latvian cultures.
Interesanti, ka Eiropā pirms simtiem gadu līdzās parastajam, melnajam siroja arī dejošanas mēris. Un tam nav nekāda sakara ar organizētu svinēšanu un svētkiem. Dejoja sākot no pāris, līdz pat simtiem un, pieņemu, ļoti reti arī tūkstošiem. Ietekmētajiem cilvēkiem bija izteikta spontāna, nekontrolēajama vēlme kustēties un "dejot" tik ilgi, līdz izsīka visi spēki, un cilvēki pakrita pilnīgā spēku izsīkumā, kā arī mira no tā un sirdstriekām. Interesanti tālāk par riebumu pret sarkano krāsu un kurpēm ar spieciem galiem.
Robert Marks, in his study of hypnotism, notes that some decorated their hair with garlands. However, not all outbreaks involved foreigners, and not all were particularly calm. Bartholomew notes that some "paraded around naked" and made "obscene gestures". Some even had sexual intercourse.Others acted like animals, and jumped, hopped and leaped about.
They hardly stopped, and some danced until they broke their ribs and subsequently died. Throughout, dancers screamed, laughed, or cried, and some sang.Bartholomew also notes that observers of dancing mania were sometimes treated violently if they refused to join in. Participants demonstrated odd reactions to the colour red; in A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany, Midelfort notes they "could not perceive the color red at all", and Bartholomew reports "it was said that dancers could not stand... the color red, often becoming violent on seeing [it]".
Bartholomew also notes that dancers "could not stand pointed shoes", and that dancers enjoyed their feet being hit. Throughout, those affected by dancing mania suffered from a variety of ailments, including chest pains, convulsions, hallucinations, hyperventilation, epileptic fits,and visions. In the end, most simply dropped down, overwhelmed with exhaustion. Midelfort, however, describes how some ended up in a state of ecstasy. Typically, the mania was contagious but it often struck small groups, such as families, and individuals.