On June 24, 1374, the city of Aachen, in present-day Germany, witnessed an unprecedented and enigmatic incident that has come to be known as the “dance of St. John” or “the dancing plague.” In this mysterious incident, hundreds of people suddenly found themselves dancing uncontrollably in the streets – something that confused and horrified modern observers and has puzzled historians and medical researchers ever since.
The start of the incident coincided with the feast of Saint John the Baptist, which was always accompanied by traditional celebrations. It was at these celebrations that Aachen descended into chaos as hundreds of people began to dance with unbridled passion. Chroniclers of the time describe that the dancers moved with frantic, jerky movements, seemingly unaffected by pain or fatigue. They continued to dance until they collapsed from exhaustion, only to get up and continue again at the same rhythm.
According to medieval accounts, the dancers exhibited alarming symptoms: some foamed at the mouth, others screamed, laughed or cried, and many seemed to be in a state of trance, incommunicado with their surroundings. The dancing was so intense that many suffered serious injuries or even died of heart attacks, strokes or exhaustion.
But what started in Aachen soon spread to other cities in the Rhine Valley, such as Cologne, Metz and Strasbourg. Reports of dance mania appeared in towns and villages throughout the region, noting that crowds of people, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, joined the dance seemingly against their will. The rapid spread of this strange behavior led many to believe that it was a contagious disease or a form of divine punishment.
In an era where natural disasters and disease were often interpreted through a religious lens, explanations for choromania varied with some seeing it as a form of demonic possession or curse. Clergy held exorcisms and all-nighters, hoping to exorcise the evil forces they believed responsible for the phenomenon.
Others, again, identified natural causes. A popular theory was that sufferers had eaten bread contaminated with ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and produces hallucinogenic alkaloids. Ergotism, i.e. infection with erysipelas, also known as “Saint Anthony’s fire”, can cause convulsions and hallucinations. However, this explanation remains controversial, as the symptoms of ergotism usually do not include the uncontrollable urge to dance.
Modern scholars make various hypotheses to explain the “dancing plague”. A fairly common theory is mass psychogenic illness, a type of collective hysteria that can occur in groups under extreme stress. The 14th century was a period of considerable upheaval in Europe, marked by the Black Death, economic hardship and social unrest. The intense psychological and social pressures of the time could have contributed to a common psychological reaction, which manifested itself in the form of choromania.
Another perspective is that the dance was a form of social or religious ritual, which could get out of hand. In a society deeply affected by famine, disease, and war, such communal activities may have provided a temporary escape from the harsh realities of life. Some historians argue that these events could have been influenced by existing folk traditions or ecstatic religious practices.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis