They were common on religious festivals in Spain and Portugal up to
the seventeenth century and in some localities continue even to our
own time. When S. Charles Borromeo was canonized in 1610, the
Portuguese, who had him as patron, made a procession of four chariots
of dancers; one to Renown, another to the City of Milan, one to
represent Portugal and a fourth to represent the Church. In Seville at
certain periods, and in the Balearic Isles, they still dance in
religious ceremonies.
We know that religious dancing has continually been performed as an
accessory to prayer, and is still so used by the Mahommedans, the
American Indians and the Bedos of India, who dance into an ecstasy.
[Illustration: Fig. 29.--Gleemen's dance, 9th century. From Cleopatra,
Cotton MS. C. viii., British Museum.]
It is probable that this sort of mania marked the dancing in Europe
which was suppressed by Pope and Bishop. This _choreomania_ marked a
Flemish sect in 1374 who danced in honour of St. John, and it was so
furious that the disease called St.
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