Tarantism: An Uncontrollable Impulse to Dance

Words for an Epic Quest, Part III

Noctilucent

When the way forward is enveloped in darkness, find a path that glows in the dark. Let benevolent bioluminescent fungi and a magic wand (stolen from a thaumaturge?) guide you.

In meteorology, noctilucent clouds are “tenuous cloud-like phenomena in the upper atmosphere” that “consist of ice crystals and from the ground are only visible during astronomical twilight.” Those lines may be the closest a Wikipedia entry has come to poetry.

Nocti- comes from the Latin word nox, meaning “night,” and lucent comes from lux, meaning “light.” While exploring the pitchy black underworld it’s comforting to have a night-light.

Tarantism

From the article TARANTISM by Jean Fogo Russell (Medical History, 1979):

Tarantism is a disorder characterized by dancing which classically follows the bite of a spider and is cured by music. It may involve one or many persons, and was first described in the eleventh century, but during the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries many outbreaks were observed and recorded, notably in southern Italy. There is no doubt that it is a hysterical phenomenon closely related to the dancing mania which occurred in Europe in the Middle Ages and with which it is often confused, but unlike the dancing mania it is initiated by a specific cause, real or imagined, and occurs during the summer when the spiders are about.

Music as a cure for tarantism was first used in Apulia, a southern state of Italy, where the folk dances would seem to have developed. The music used in the cure is a quick, lively uninterrupted tune with short repetitive phrases played with increasing tempo and called a tarantella.

Dancing hysteria: it’s contagious.

Moribund

I first heard the word moribund in the song “Grace Cathedral Hill” by The Decemberists. The Decemberists have been one of my favorite bands since college. The Morrissey-meets-Dickens lyrics of Colin Meloy and the phenomenal album artwork of Carson Ellis make me want to write and draw a story. Preferably one with ragtag characters who get into hilarious, tragic adventures.

Absquatulate

As an introvert with an early bedtime, I often absquatulate from parties.

I feel the same way in enclosed spaces. On a cave tour with my family last summer, claustrophobia (and maybe a bit of nyctophobia) set in. I found myself looking for a way out. A ladder to the overworld. A portal into sunlight.

There were no man-eating bugs threatening to infect me with dancing mania, just one of my small children trying to touch fragile rock formations and another freaking out that his feet were touching the sandy cave floor.

Soon I was freaking out.

At last the hapless high schooler leading the cave tour opened an exit door. And we were safe in the light.

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Some Words of Wonder you’ll find in my book POETRY COMICS: moongleam, skyward, wispy, and unparalleled. Order it from your favorite bookstore or purchase it online wherever books are sold.