,
7 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
Dancing mania outbreaks occurred during the Medieval period, including one in 1237 in which a large group of children travelled from Erfurt to Arnstadt (about 12.5 miles), jumping and dancing all the way. 
Widespread across Europe, those afflicted with dancing mania would dance in large groups, sometimes for weeks at a time. The dancing was sometimes accompanied by stripping, howling, the making of obscene gestures, or even (reportedly) laughing or crying to the point of death.
From the 1400’s to 1800’s, movement hysteria was common in nunneries which largely consisted of women forced by family into the strict lifestyle. Nuns would exhibit a variety of behaviors, usually attributed to demonic possession.
”Possessed” Medieval nuns would often use crude language and exhibit suggestive behaviors. One convent's nuns would regularly meow like cats. Priests were often called in to exorcise demons (whatever that means).
Mass hysteria has been documented in modernity, occurring in the 1960’s, 70’s, and 2000’s, though nowadays it typically presents as some sort of illness/sickness and is no longer the dancing of olden days.
Sometimes I get bored and just read random crap online for fun. Hope you enjoyed me sharing. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
@threadreaderapp unroll
