La Tarantella…une danse pour exorciser la folie
La Tarantella...a dance to exorcise madness

Summary/Abstract: In the southern regions of Italy, a special dance has been performed for a long time if someone went insane. It’s supposed that lunacy was caused by a tarantula bite; so the other members of the community had to accomplish a special ritual for curing the “tarantolato” from madness. This ritual consisted in a dance in which the bitten person was in the middle and the other members of his/her community revolved around him/her organized in a circle. This kind of dance is named “tarantella” which comes from “tarantula” or “tarantola” in Italian. We can find many variants of “tarantella” in each region. People thought that thanks to this dance the person affected by mental disorder could be cured. This dance is danced even today on some special occasions like weddings, showing the strong links in old communities and their reciprocal help.

• Details
• Contents