DANZA MACHARA – A planet depicted in black velvet with representations of the *d. m.* (16th century) – Mons, church of St Nicholas.
DANZA MACHARA – Letter from Cardinal Girolamo Colonna concerning matters relating to the Cistercian monastery of St Mary of Paradise in D. to the Apostolic Nuncio Mario Filonardi (Rome, 28 June 1639) – Vatican Library, ms Vat. lat. 8473, f. 310.
Some called them “dancers of St John”; from 1418, however, they were known as “dancers of St Vitus,” because in order to cure their mania they were taken into a chapel dedicated to this saint, situated in the immediate vicinity of Saverne.
It is mistaken to classify these dancers among the numerous heretical sects of that time: no specific heresy can indeed be attributed to them. Judging by the contagious character of their dances, they should rather be regarded as sufferers from hysteria. Yet it is highly probable that some of these phenomena represent cases of true diabolical possession, since it was above all through exorcisms that the dancers obtained relief from their abnormal state.