Of Walpurgisnacht and Witches!

travsd

April 30

Gut Walpurgisnacht!

I was shocked -- shocked! -- to discover that I have never even mentioned this holiday on this blog, despite having gotten AWFULLY close, by writing about May Day, which it anticipates, and many European Pagan/Christian hybrid holidays. If you believe you've never heard of it before, I hope you have at least a vague sense that you've come across the word? It features prominently in Goethe's Faust (as well as many of the works of art inspired by it), as well as Bram Stoker's 1914 short story "Dracula's Guest", Thomas Mann's 1924 The Magic Mountain, and it even gets a shout-out in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Bulgakov's Master and Margarita (1940) has a scene set at a Walpurgisnacht Ball. Ring a bell? Still no? Nyah, go back to sleep.

Walpurgisnacht is celebrated principally in central and northern Europe, primarily Germany, the Netherlands, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), Sweden, and the Uralic speaking nations of Finland, Estonia, and Hungary. It conceivably gets lost in the shuffle because it takes place on May Day Eve, and the next day is celebrated much more widely. In Finland and Estonia the two days are basically folded into one two-day festival. Like most European holidays it is a muddle, full of contradictions. Basically, the bottom line is that is the witch holiday. The confusion lies in the fact that it is simultaneously a celebration by and/or of witches, and also a time (for some) of warding them off! The celebration of course comes from the fact that it is May Day Eve, a general pagan holy time. In the U.S. we're accustomed to making Halloween the time for witches, but historically, Halloween is much more about ghosts. Like anyone else, witches have many holidays! But for many, Walpgurgisnacht is the primary one. In Germany it also known as Hexennacht (Witches' Night).

The added layer of meaning comes with the canonization of Saint Walpurga (ca. 710-779). Walpurga was an Anglo-Saxon mercenary who traveled to the Frankish realm, converting many in the portion of the country we now call Germany. She came from the area around Devon, England, though clearly, at that early date she was surely only a generation or two away from the Anglo-Saxlon homeland in Northwestern Germany. The cultural connections between herself and the people she was converting were strong. She is also credited with miraculously curing diseases -- and getting rid of witches.

Thus, as with many of these old holidays, there are often bonfires on Walpurgisnacht. The only question is, are you burning it as a pagan would, to bring light into the world? Or, from the Christian perspective, are you symbolically cleansing the world of witches and rogue spirits? In some Walpurgisnacht celebrations, effigies of witches are burned. I'm sure most people don't think about it much, or choose up sides. If you think about Halloween, or the whole tourism scene in Salem, the spirit of Walpurgisnacht seems very similar. As a folkloric tradition it has been shaped by millions of people. It is neither "me witch", nor "you witch", nor "pro witch" nor "anti witch". It's just WITCH. The day is thought to be a traditional day of witches gathering on the mountain called Brocken, the highest in the Harz range. But it is also a time when Christians make a pilgrimage to Saint Walpurga's tomb. There are other aspects to the holiday, as well. Pranks are often played, as on Halloween, April Fool's Day, and other holidays. Folk songs are sung, and homes are often decorated with garlands as at Christmas.

Anyway, this commentator is a big fan of witches as potent symbols and examples of female power, so we observe the day by bundling together the many witches-in-pop-culture related posts on Travalanche

A Pilgrimage to Salem (2015)

Second trip to Salem (2017)

On Marie Laveau

Haxan (1922 -- best witch movie ever)

I Married a Witch (1942)

Wendy, the Good Little Witch (debuted 1954)

Witch movies from the 1960s and '70s

Bewitched (1964-1972)

Witchie-Poo (1969-70)

The Witch (2015)

On some Wizard of Oz witches:

Winifred Greenwood