Fortean Times has posted a deep exploration of the tarantella, an 18th century dancing "cure" for the bite of a tarantula. From the article:
One of the oldest documents on the subject of tarantism, Ferdinando Ponzetti's Sertum Papale De Venensis (1362), had suggested that the victims of shade-dwelling spiders were hostages to the music of the tarantula's bite, to its 'cantum tempore'. Ponzetti's contemporary, William de Marra, scoffed at the ignorant and ill informed who believed that the tarantula actually sang as it bit, but all classes of Apulian society, from peasant to noblewoman, turned to the tarantella. The bite of the tarantula was thought to be potentially fatal. Each summer, moreover, it was liable to re-awaken and the same tarantati would again be called to dance beyond exhaustion.
The symptoms of the tarantula's bite were extremely varied. The most immediate of effects – nausea, headaches, livid complexion and difficulties in speech – might be followed by paroxysms of laughter or tears, sexual excitement, paranoia or a state of mute and listless abjection. These different responses were commonly believed to reflect the different characteristics of the offending spider itself. To purge the venom, musicians attempted to evoke cadences that matched the music of each individual spider. The lively and impassioned Panno rosso, the wistful pastoral of the Panno verde, the slow and staggering Spallata were some of the melodies that were performed. Before the musicians began to play, they would attempt to establish the colour of the spider and the physical location of its bite – clues to its musical character.
Link (free reg. required to read the entire article)
