The Enigmatic Dance Plague: A Frenzy Like No Other

With the arrival of Adar, joy is increased. Joy is something we all need. There are those who say that it’s a big mitzvah to always be joyous.

However, sometimes joy can go a little too far... Joy should be balanced, and one shouldn’t laugh to excess in this world.

One of the most remarkable and peculiar phenomena in recent history is the Dance Plague. In July 1518, in the town of Strasbourg in the Alsace region of France, around 400 people started dancing non-stop, day and night, for a month!

Some of the dancers suffered heart attacks, strokes, or exhaustion, and a few even died from starvation.

The event began with a woman named Frau Troffea, who started dancing in the street for four days. Within a week, she was joined by more people, until their number reached 400.

The local physician seriously considered whether an astrological cause could explain the event. He compared star charts, adjusted the astrolabe (an ancient device for measuring the angles of stars) back and forth, but found no explanation. Eventually, he declared that the plague was a natural contagious disease, resulting from the dancers having "hot blood." Bloodletting was considered by expert opinions and eventually it was decided not to prevent the disease, but the opposite: the city built special wooden stages for the dancers so they could dance freely without bumping into horses and carriages. They believed that continued dancing would lead them to self-healing. The city also paid musicians to play for the dancers and encourage them.

Various experts also attempted exorcisms, hoping it would end the hot blood ailment, but that didn't help either. The dancers began to faint or die.

Contemporary illustrations depict the dancers writhing in pain from the effort and crying for help - yet unable to stop. One explanation suggests the dancers were poisoned by "ergot," a fungus that grows on wheat and contaminated the village's bread, causing hallucinations, convulsions, and tremors. However, given the number of dancers and the duration of the event, this option seems unlikely.

Author John Waller, who wrote a book on the subject, claims that the hunger and disease afflicting the poor of Strasbourg that year created conditions for an outbreak of mass hysteria. Waller believes that Strasbourg's residents danced while in a trance state, which could explain the dancers' extraordinary endurance, enabling them to dance for days on end.

So indeed, it's a big mitzvah to always be joyful, but remember to take care of your health...