The klikusha of Imperial Russia was a phenomenon as early as the eleventh century, but with more frequency during the nineteenth and early twentieth century among Russian peasantry women. They were thought to be possessed by demons. There was a distinct bias during this time period in Russia towards poverty, politics, and women. These women while possessed would shriek at the top of their lungs, also writhing and engaging in strange public displays. These displays led to the townspeople of these peasant villages to seek revenge on who was responsible for these "possessed" women. It was almost analogous to the Salem Witch Trials here in America when people would almost arbitrarily choose who they thought were witches and sorcerers that they thought were guilty of klikushestvo (demon possession). The main thesis in Worobec's book is how klikushestvo made the elitist society in Russia perceive the Russian peasantry women who lived in the countryside. In any case, these ecstatic states were a way of expressing themselves in response the demon possessing their insides.
There are other forms of art, so to speak that can be found similar to the possessed women, such as the minstrel's performance in Russia and the Ukraine, a shaman's chant, and churches with a music-based service found in many country towns here in the United States. A minstrel's performance is somewhat like the women of the klikushestvo because they both draw an audience and the people of the countryside and small towns in Russia feel compelled to help them by giving them shelter, food, and money. A shaman's chant is thought to help heal people of physical and even psychological wounds in many cultures. These women's shrieks and screams helped enable the peasants and clergymen around them to punish the perceived witches guilty and reestablish order in their communities. The music-based services and the snake-handlers also draw a more rural crowd as well.
