In an Alternate Universe, one can only Hope They had a Different Timeline for their Pandemics
Today’s story for the raku pottery vase, ‘Footloose‘, tells the tale of a pandemic that is now long forgotten. – which is a good thing, for we’d all be envious that we got stuck living through covid instead of the Dancing Pandemic!
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Largely misunderstood
And tucked away in some corner of the dance floor of history, are a series of small plagues/pandemics that occurred in Europe from 7th century to the 17th century. One of the most well known of these took place in 1518 in France!
Those afflicted by this pandemic
Would dance for days, to the point of exhaustion and seemed to be in an alternate state of consciousness. It was rumoured some would indeed ‘dance till they’re dead’, but for the most part it seemed this condition would eventually resolve on it’s own with few fatalities.
No one is quite sure what caused this pandemic.
There were many theories, that included spider bites, demonic possession, or even directly blaming Satan. Contemporary historians have theorized that the cause could have been ergot poisoning, or mass psychosis from the miserable conditions of life at the time, but I have another theory.
Was the dancing plague/pandemic the original ‘Footloose’?
In such repressive times, dancing would have often been frowned upon, probably by the same people who tried to cure the dancers with an exorcism. Fortunately, it was most often ‘cured’ by allowing the dancing to run it’s course. Many magistrates even provided the music to help dancers ‘shimmy’ the sickness away!
I am sure they too were tapping their feet.
So if I have to live through another pandemic, I choose this one! Maybe we could exchange covid for this one?
What do you think of today’s raku pottery vase ‘Footloose’ and our story today? And if you were living through a dancing pandemic and could make a song request to the DJ, which song would you pick? Let us know in the comments below!
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I would choose something by David Guetta! I think, as humanity, we all could benefit from some dancing. I find it ridiculous that disco’s are judged to be accessed only by young people. We should all go, regardless of our age.
Nice! I agree with your observation, but between covid and living in a rural area it’s been impossible to get to one! Had a movie night not long ago and watched the story about Studio 54. Afterwards, I may have put on a Studio 54 playlist and danced 😉
I enjoy dancing to David Guetta’s music too 😉 I think dancing helps you stay joyful and keep young!
I love dancing, so this post was very interesting. I didn’t know dancing was considered to be a cure for pandemics.
I love dancing too! It was more a case of dancing was the main symptom of this pandemic, and the only cure was to just let the people dance till they felt better or danced themselves to death, which I don’t recommend 😉
Hope you are well and having a great weekend.
The Jerusalema challenge is uplifting enough for me. A dance pandemic to cure most pandemics. 😀
haha! It is fun to see some of those videos! We need all the uplifting we can get during this pandemic. I hope you are doing well Tish!
Stunning post! Dancing a cure of pandemics – sure, why not shake it off!
If it’s good enough for Taylor Swift to ‘shake it off’, then it’s good enough for me to do so too! I hope you are having a great weekend and having some beautiful weather to enjoy.
😊Our weather has been pretty decent so far. Typical spring moving into summer temps with afternoon rain.