The “Dance of the Seven Veils” is a popular cultural reference to the dance Salome performed for Herod, but the name first appeared in Oscar Wilde’s play. It is not a traditional Middle Eastern dance, and some believe it has associations with ancient Eastern religions. The dance has appeared in art and literature, and some believe it has roots in an ancient myth about the Sumerian goddess Inanna or the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Modern mystics see the dance as a metaphor for enlightenment, and Tom Robbins offers a similar interpretation in his novel Lean Legs and All.
In popular culture, “the dance of the seven veils” is believed to be the dance that Salome performed for her stepfather, Herod, as described in the Bible in Matthew 14:6-11 and Mark 6:21-28. In the Bible, the dance is not named, and this name first appeared in print in the scene notes of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play Salome. It is not a traditional Middle Eastern dance, but more likely a Western invention steeped in Orientalist misconceptions, although some believe it has associations with ancient Eastern religions. In the modern Western world, the dance is often associated with striptease, although some belly dancers have more artistic interpretations.
The Dance of the Seven Veils has appeared as a theme in art and literature since the first appearance of Oscar Wilde’s play. It is the culmination of Richard Strauss’s opera Salome, based on Wilde’s play. The women who play Salome have performed memorable and often scandalous versions of the dance over the years. The dancer begins the dance wearing seven veils and removes them one by one as she dances, often, but not always, ending the dance naked or nearly so.
Some have claimed that the dance of the seven veils has its roots in an ancient myth about the Sumerian goddess Inanna or the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. In this myth, the goddess descends into the underworld and on her journey she must pass through seven gates, at each of which she must deliver a jewel or symbol of her kingship. The number seven was significant to the ancients, as it is the number of celestial bodies visible to the naked eye without a telescope: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. Thus, there are seven major gods in many ancient religions, and the number seven appears in many myths and systems of classification.
Modern mystics see the dance and the story of Inanna’s descent as a metaphor for enlightenment, casting “veils” of illusion on the path to the deepest spirituality of self-realization. The idea of the “seven veils of mystical experience” actually predates Wilde’s work. These “seven veils” are, in order, Dreams, Reason, Passion, Bliss, Courage, Compassion and Knowledge.
In his novel Lean Legs and All, Tom Robbins offers a similar but updated interpretation of the Dance of the Seven Veils. With each veil the dancer removes, a different mundane illusion is challenged and shattered. Memorably, the dancer in Robbin’s novel removes the veil covering her crotch first and saves the one covering her face and head last, suggesting that the dance is not about titillation, but about shedding one’s worldly problems.
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