Dancing Plague in Alsace

In the morning I was reading an article written by Theodore Dalrymple titled “Dancing therapy for troubled youth?” According to the article, there was an account by historian John Waller of the Dancing Plague in Alsace in 1518.

The Dancing Plague was a result of the bleak economic situations in Strasbourg in 1518, when a woman called Frau Troffea started dancing in public and continued for days on end until she was exhausted and had damaged her feet severely. Several hundred people soon joined her. The madness, as it was termed seemed collective.

Now there were a lot of speculations as to what was the reason for such an outburst. It was suggested that it was caused by ergotism, a condition brought about by an ergot-producing fungus that spreads on mouldy grain. Ergot causes visual hallucinations that sends people mad and a burning sensations in the extremities that might make people hop about for a while. (To know more about Ergotism, which I believe you should, follow this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism)

Ergotism was just a suggestion. The reason for such an outburst that concluded was that, it was because of distress. The level of suffering in Strasbourg’s poorer district was highly conducive to someone losing touch with reality. High levels of psychological distress significantly increase the likelihood of an individual slipping, or perhaps escaping, into the trance state. It is possible, also, that malnutrition contributed its mite; and if history shows anything, it shows that trance-like states are contagious.

After reading the article I couldn’t help but draw parallels with our own time, even though the incident took place way back, when God wouldn’t been have thought of making us.

To escape the brutal realties of our day today lives, we try to get into the same trance like state. Wherein nothing can touch us and nothing can tell us what is going wrong in our lives. We try to live in this oblivion as long and as often we like. Some use alcohol, some use drugs, some use dance and some use a combination of them all, to achieve Frau Troffen’s state of self-extinction.

Another similarity that can be drawn from the incident in Alsace is the dire condition that prevailed during that time. Its plain obvious that we aren’t at our best, financially.2009 has been termed as a difficult year. As Paul Krugman said,” Let’s not mince words. The economic situation right now resembles and feels like the beginning of Great Depression2.”

Does that mean we are going to be witnessing another Dancing Plague with most possibly us as the participants?