It is not uncommon for girls at secondary schools, particularly all-girl schools, to be afflicted with what is euphemistically dubbed the falling down sickness. In this sickness, a girl will become possessed by a demon, and fall down dramatically, which prompts a flurry of hysterical praying and similar possession from other girls around. Sometimes boys, who do not seem to have the falling down sickness, are called upon to forcibly remove the possessed girls.
On a lighter note, a 19-year-old girl told me that at her all-girls school they had a laughing sickness in which sometimes girls who hadn't seen men for a long time would start laughing uncontrollably at the sight of the male teachers and be unable to learn anything. In order to prevent this, the school headmaster allows the girls to have a disco with the nearby all-boys school once a month.
I like the responses to these episodes. Very rational. Men make you laugh? Fine, have a disco. Gotta like that.
ReplyDelete