Taranta:
the myth of the bite in Salento
The bite of a tarantula
causes, according to popular belief, a strong state of pain, from which you can
freed temporarily, thanks to a therapeutic practice based on music and dance.
A noxious animal, a
spider, as the humanist doctor Antonio De Ferrariis wrote in 1513, in the most
famous of his epistles, De situ Japygiae, whose poison is expelled by the
sounds of flutes and drums. “I wouldn’t believe it”, he added, “if I hadn’t had so much proof”. The bite of
this spider, the tarantula, causes, according to the common belief, an extreme
state of prostration and uneasiness in the unfortunate person; women suffer
more compared to men. When the nature of the situation has been understood, a
small orchestra is called (a small drum, a violin, a guitar), which starts a
series of musical tunes, a proper exploration, to understand which tune would
revive the bitten person: sometimes the rhythm is crazy like that of the
Pìzzica, and so the person rises and dances for a long time in an incoherent
manner, even for many hours and days, except for the occasional breaks to rest
and during the nights; but the rhythm can also be softer with a plaintive tune. Continue...
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