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Dance of Death

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

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Dana, James Dwight

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Dancing

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Dictionaries
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Death, Dance of
• Dance of Death
Encyclopedias
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Dance of Death
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Dance of Death
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Dance of Death

Originally a spectacular play which has been traced to the 14th century when the Black Death and other epidemics had impressed the popular imagination. These plays were given in the churchyard; they were opened by a sermon on death, then a series of figures resembling skeletons would appear. The dancing movement was a later development. Traces of these plays are found in Germany, France, England, and Italy. Pictorial representations were made on walls of cemeteries, etc. In engraving the most famous versions are those of Holbein and Dürer.