Il tarantismo in Sicilia. Declinazioni locali di un fenomeno culturale euromediterraneo

Abstract

The text examines published and unpublished materials – such as historical and ethnographic sources, archive records, and musical documents – which testify the presence of tarantism in Sicily from mid-17th century to the end of the 19th. The Sicilian case is then considered in a wider context of contributions on the theme, starting from the ‘classic’ De Martino’work, up to the debate on the interpretation of the phenomenon between the poles of exorcism and possession, chiefly rased by French ethnomusicologist Gilbert Rouget. The analyses is therefore expanded to the tradition of snakes bites healers (the ciaràuli), which shares with tarantism the spider symbolism, and to certain kinds of religious processions characterised by frantic ‘dances’, which suggest elements of functional continuity with tarantism musical-choreutic therapy.