Did you ever dance the tarantella, or see it being danced? Did you know this dance originated with a belief that people had about the tarantula? The tarantula is a large, fierce, hairy spider. In the Middle Ages it

was thought that people bitten by a tarantula became ill with “tarantism.” The patients were supposed to fall into a dull, unhappy state. The only way to stir people out of this state was with music, and they were supposed to dance until they were completely worn out and collapsed from exhaustion. After that they would become well.