Show Navigation

Italy-Apulia

Galatina, near the small church of St. Paul the school's students remembering the Tarantism, an alleged envenomation, popularly believed to result from the bite of a kind of wolf spider called a "tarantula". The condition was common in southern Italy, mainly around Galatina, until 40 year ago. There were strong suggestions that there was no organic cause for the heightened excitability that gripped the victims. The stated belief of the time was that victims needed to engage in frenzied dancing to prevent death from tarantism. As a climax, "the tarantulees, after having danced for a long time, meet together in the chapel of Saint Paul and communally attain the paroxysm of their trance. The phenomenon of tarantism is consistent with mass psychogenic illness.

Add to Lightbox Download
Filename
em7125660.jpg
Copyright
copyrighted
Image Size
4256x2832 / 4.4MB
Contained in galleries
Italy-Salento
Galatina, near the small church of St. Paul the school's students remembering the Tarantism, an alleged envenomation, popularly believed to result from the bite of a kind of wolf spider called a "tarantula". The condition was common in southern Italy, mainly around Galatina, until 40 year ago. There were strong suggestions that there was no organic cause for the heightened excitability that gripped the victims. The stated belief of the time was that victims needed to engage in frenzied dancing to prevent death from tarantism. As a climax, "the tarantulees, after having danced for a long time, meet together in the chapel of Saint Paul and communally attain the paroxysm of their trance. The phenomenon of tarantism is consistent with mass psychogenic illness.
Info