I was reading about this recently as I was researching the Ghost Dancers of the Midwest Native American tribes of the late 1800s. There were multiple occurrences of dancing or related (sometimes seemingly uncontrollable) movement in religions. Here's a short list I made from James Mooney's book on the Ghost Dancers:
- The dancing epidemic of Saint John, which broke out in Germany, the Netherlands, and France in the 1300s and 1400s.
- The Flagellant movement, which erupted in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Denmark, and England in the 1200s and 1300s.
- The Quakers, who early in their history, were known for violently shaking.
- The "Jumpers," a group that started in 1740 in Wales, whose actions Moore notes as most similar to the Ghost dancers of 1870 and 1890. They would repeatedly sing songs while jumping for hours.
- The Shakers. You get the idea from the name.
- The Methodists. Of the groups already mentioned, this was the one I had the least expectation of an early history of followers shaking and falling down in religious ecstasy.
- The Kentucky Revival of 1800, which mostly affected Methodists and Baptists in Kentucky and Tennessee. The promise was that Christ's second coming would be in 1805. At these revival meetings attendees often fell to the ground and rolled around, jerking their body about.
As Mooney said in his book: "The human race is one in thought and action. The systems of our highest civilizations have their counterparts among all the nations, and their chain of parallels stretches backward link by link until we find their origin and interpretation in the customs and rites of our own barbarian ancestors, or of our still existing aboriginal tribes. There is nothing new under the sun."
My childhood was in a Pentecostal church and this would randomly happen with out warning during a service - and when it did the service would run long. Normally I would get out at 12:30 so 11-12 was singing, 10-11 Sunday school and 12-12:30 at best the preaching would end but it was probably 1 in 6 where one could describe is as mass hysteria with loud singing , speaking in tongues and falling to the floor. Those would run and extra hour at least which gave very little time for play being you had to be back there for evening service. 10/10 would not recommend.
Mooney is the best! Wasnt he the first westerner to have a legit psychedelic trip? From peyote. Magic mushrooms were only discovered by westerners in 1957.
- The dancing epidemic of Saint John, which broke out in Germany, the Netherlands, and France in the 1300s and 1400s. - The Flagellant movement, which erupted in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Denmark, and England in the 1200s and 1300s. - The Quakers, who early in their history, were known for violently shaking. - The "Jumpers," a group that started in 1740 in Wales, whose actions Moore notes as most similar to the Ghost dancers of 1870 and 1890. They would repeatedly sing songs while jumping for hours. - The Shakers. You get the idea from the name. - The Methodists. Of the groups already mentioned, this was the one I had the least expectation of an early history of followers shaking and falling down in religious ecstasy. - The Kentucky Revival of 1800, which mostly affected Methodists and Baptists in Kentucky and Tennessee. The promise was that Christ's second coming would be in 1805. At these revival meetings attendees often fell to the ground and rolled around, jerking their body about.
As Mooney said in his book: "The human race is one in thought and action. The systems of our highest civilizations have their counterparts among all the nations, and their chain of parallels stretches backward link by link until we find their origin and interpretation in the customs and rites of our own barbarian ancestors, or of our still existing aboriginal tribes. There is nothing new under the sun."