Page 205 - Encyclopedia Of World History

diseases, animal 555

St. Vitus’ Dance

At the height of the Black Death (1348-1350), a
medical condition known as “St. Vitus’ Dance”
territory in 1526, setting up the opportunity for Pizarro’s began to emerge in the Rhineland (Germany).The
successful “invasion” in 1531. condition purportedly was an offshoot of the
There are well-documented cases of 90 percent or dances people did to protect themselves from the
more of indigenous populations being wiped out by plague. The principal symptoms were ceaseless
these new contagious diseases that arrived with both dancing, hysteria and foaming at the mouth; there
Europeans and their symbiotic nonhumans. In one well- was no cure.
documented example, the Mandans, one of the most
Amidst our people here is come,
elaborate of the Great Plains cultures, suffered mortality
The madness of the dance.
of more than 95 percent of their population after arrival
In every town there now are some
of smallpox on a Missouri riverboat in 1837.
Who fall upon a trance.
The introduction of alien diseases had a devastating
It drives them ever night and day,
impact on the indigenous peoples of the Americas. If the
They scarcely stop for breath,
deaths of 20 to 40 percent of local populations in Europe
Till some have dropped along the way
as a result of plague caused restructuring and rethinking
And some are met by death.
of the philosophical role of humans in the world, it is dif-
Source: Sachs, C. (1937). World history of the dance (p. 253). New York: W.W.
ficult to imagine the spiritual, social, and philosophical Norton.
impact of loss of 90 to 95 percent of a population, as
occurred in many indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Disease is a major factor in limiting rates of population selves or loved ones, abandoned by kin and other tribal
growth, in fact, populations free of the impact of diseases members fleeing the epidemic, and in the process often
typically outstrip those subject to disease. Indigenous carrying the disease to other peoples and communities,
Americans appeared relatively free of epidemic disease many individuals and communities simply gave up hope.
prior to the arrival of Europeans. As a consequence Many engaged in activities that only hastened their
indigenous populations had not evolved any immunity to deaths, such as sweats followed by immersion in cold
contagious diseases.They did not lack the ability to pro- water. The inability of their traditional holistic methods
duce immune responses, however, the devastation ap- of treating diseases to contain these contagions caused
peared to result from the way in which indigenous them to lose faith in their healers and medicine people
populations were exposed to contagion.The major killers and also to abandon traditional spiritual practices and
of indigenous Americans, smallpox and influenza, were ceremonies. Because the European invaders had devel-
lethal primarily to persons in the age range of 15 to 40 oped some immunity to these diseases, many indigenous
years, hence the most valuable and productive members peoples assumed that European spiritual and philo-
of a population, both culturally and demographically. sophical traditions were superior to their own, leading to
These diseases typically arrived in clusters, punctuated by acceptance and adoption of Christianity and its tenets.
brief interludes of respite. Thus communities might be The failure of indigenous spiritual traditions, com-
ravaged by a series of three or four diseases, followed by bined with the introduction of new goods and materials,
a period of remission.Then such communities might be led indigenous peoples to abandon centuries-old tradi-
hit by another bout with a new disease or set of diseases. tions of dealing with the natural world, based on respect,
This combination of periodicity of events with the plu- connection, and conservation. Some peoples may even
rality of the diseases prevented the ability to evolve have blamed the wildlife and the natural world for the
immune responses. epidemics, because it appears that many indigenous peo-
This pattern generated extreme psychological and spir- ples associated disease with wildlife and developed cul-
itual stress. Unable to prevent disease or care for them- tural traditions that were assumed to minimize the