dance of death
Skeletons lead all
A dance of death is an allegorical image of death leading people from all walks of life—kings, peasants, clergy—to their graves, emphasizing mortality's universality.
The motif appeared widely in medieval European art during plague years.
By extension, any grim or inevitable progression toward destruction: The economy's dance of death continued through the quarter.
- morbidUnhealthily drawn to darkness
- bubonic plagueYersinia pestis infection
- macabreDisturbing, death-obsessed
- plagueDeadly epidemic disease
- mortalityState of eventual death
memento mori · skull and crossbones · morality play · moral lesson · liturgical drama · allegory · parable · medieval · Renaissance influence · medieval themes · vanitas · iconography · cautionary tale · spiritual reflection · European art · art history · historical context · cultural critique
- allegoriesallegory, fable, parable, Animal Farm, Pilgrim's Progress
- death artmemento mori, vanitas, danse macabre, skull art, ossuaries
- plague historybubonic plague, pneumonic plague, Yersinia pestis, plague doctor, plague mask
- medieval deathdanse macabre, memento mori, Last Judgment, skeleton, corpse
- danceballet, breaking, b-boying, ballroom, waltz
- mortalitydeceased, mortality, mortality rates, dying, dead
dance of deathcelebration of life
Upbeat funeral alternative
maypole dance · wedding dance · spring festival · Beltane · carnival
dance of deathjubilee
Special anniversary observance
revelry · merrymaking · festivity · celebration · exultation
dance of deathbirth ritual
Rite marking new life
rebirth · resurrection · coming-of-age ceremony · initiation rite · baptism
dance, death, dances, danced, dancing, dancer, dancers, deaths, deathly