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Poltergeists · Possessions and exorcisms

Ramanenjana – the Dancing Mania and the Queen's Ghost

When
1863 date from records made at the time
Where
Rova of Antananarivo, Madagascar
Verdict
Explained

In 1863 thousands of Malagasy danced for weeks as if in a trance. People said the spirit of the late Queen Ranavalona was protesting her son's reforms.

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-18.92°, 47.53° · dimmed: other phenomena within 1,500 km

What happened

Queen Ranavalona I ruled Madagascar with an iron hand for 33 years, defending traditional religion and persecuting Christians. She died in August 1861, and her son Radama II immediately reversed her policies: he let the missionaries in, proclaimed freedom of religion and signed the controversial Lambert Charter with the French. In early 1863 the ramanenjana broke out in Imerina – an epidemic of “possession.” Men and women danced for days on end to drums as if in a trance, deaf to their families' voices. It quickly reached the capital, Antananarivo, where crowds danced in the streets. It was widely said that the dancers were in contact with the spirit of the dead Ranavalona, outraged at what her son was doing to the kingdom. A few months later, on 12 May 1863, conspirators led by the prime minister burst into the Rova palace and strangled Radama II with a silk sash, so as not to shed royal blood.

Witnesses

Missionaries and doctors in Madagascar, including the Scottish medical missionary Andrew Davidson, who described the epidemic in “Choreomania” in the “Edinburgh Medical Journal” (1867); accounts by the London Missionary Society.

Explanations and hypotheses

To Davidson and the missionaries it was a disease – a “choreomania” like the medieval dancing manias of Europe; it was also blamed on malaria or a “lack of moral discipline.” Historians and anthropologists see the ramanenjana above all as a religious and political phenomenon: a mass, ritual protest against rapid Christianization and European influence, expressed through possession by royal ancestor spirits, which are central to Merina religion. Its timing shows the political side – the movement peaked in the weeks before the coup against Radama II. Figures for the number of dancers (up to tens of thousands) are estimates.

Explained The phenomenon has a widely accepted, down-to-earth explanation.

Sources

  1. Andrew Davidson, Choreomania: an historical sketch, with some account of an epidemic observed in Madagascar (Edinburgh Medical Journal, 1867)
  2. Ebenezer Prout, Madagascar: Its Mission and Its Martyrs (London Missionary Society, 1863)

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