Walpurgis Night
FOLK1103
Submitted to: Kate Butler
Final Draft
Ulysses Beaudoin Lowry
Student ID 20112710
Cape Breton University
Some European traditions are quite ancient by North American standards. The
Walpurgis Night celebrated on either April 30th or Mai 1st is as ancient as the witches and creatures the festival itself celebrates. It is tied in with other localized customs, such as the lighting of large bond fires around the time of Easter. The Walpurgis Night is celebrated in most Northern European countries such as: Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Sweden etc.
Taking place six months after Hallows’ eve, the celebration can trace its origins back to the late 5th or early 6th century. It is presumed the custom is much older than documents entail however.
Germany itself can trace back the origins of the festival back to the 5th century in
Johann Coler’s literature. This paper focuses on the importance of Walpurgis Night in the
North of Germany. The area surrounding the town of Brocken will be of particular interest since Goethe’s play, Faust, highlights certain regional aspects and serves as a wealth of knowledge documenting some of the tales. Interviewed by the BBC, JK Rowling’s used
Walpurgis Night as a basis for many of her novels.
Although the celebration has
recently been a tourist
attraction, it remains an
integral part of Northern
Europe’s folklore. The
touristic aspect of the Brocken
Mountains only serves to reinforce the legends of the past. Not within the scope of this paper yet a glaring fact is the following: Changes in customs are apparent and demonstrate that a living, breathing legend is anything but static.
Walpurgis nights are generally assumed to trace their origins back to fertility rights by the Norse people. The celebration has continued unabated by the Christian church since
Saint Walburga was canonized on May first, allowing people to combine the two celebrations together and avoid the penalties of the Church regarding pagan rites. As time passed by, the celebration seems to have become an amalgamation of all things celebrated during the spring.
The Celebration of Walpurgis Night varies widely across Europe. In Sweden, folk songs are traditional. In
Finland, Walpurgis Nights are celebrated in the form of a carnival, with the aid of Sima, a type of local mead. In Germany, the celebrations eerily resemble Halloween to North Americans. This aspect of the legend is not a new phenomenon. The German specific traditions trace their roots to the Witches’ Sabbath. Germans dress in costumes such as the ones portrayed above.
Germans play well spirited pranks. Additionally, they make loud noises to scare evil spirits away. That is the extent to which it resembles Halloween however. Blessed pieces of foliage are hung from residences to scare off spirits, and snacks are left for phantom hounds.
It is believed that in Brocken, witches ride about in the night, performing sacrifices on the Harz Mountains. The witches are generally referred to as Hexen, whilst the devils are known as Teufel. The origins of the fires stem from the Hexens and the Teufels customs.
It is said that during the night, they dance about a huge fire, and worship the devil to gain magic powers.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust makes reference to these customs in the following passage: "Now to the Brocken the witches ride; the stubble is gold and the corn is green; there is the carnival crew to be seen, And Squire Urianus will come to preside. So over the valleys our company floats, with witches a-farting on stinking old goats."
There is some belief that the witches and devils in question are the pagan society who did not believe in Christianity. They could have secretly gone to the mountains to worship their gods. This tale has been collected by the Brothers Grimm as well, who write:
“There is a mountain very high and bare...whereon it is given out that witches hold their dance on Walpurgis Night" (1883) As time has gone by, Walpurgis Night has become a celebration of spring, where as many as 20,000 people can amass and celebrate. Men, Women, Children, and all other members of the family are welcome to participate. The fireworks now embody the loud noises. The legend of Walpurgis Night lives on well and strong, and has stood the test of time, indicating that there may be some truth to the tales. Also of interest is that Adolf
Hitler committed suicide on April 30th 1945, propelling the mystery of Walpurgisnacht it into the future as the day for a fresh beginning, as a day to scare the spirits away.
Walpurgis nights is also an inspiration to the Harry Potter series. JK Rowlings states, in an interview on the BBC, that "'...in here is the history of the Death Eaters and I don't know that I'll ever actually need it - but at some point - which were once called something different - they were called the Knights of Walpurgis...'". It is believed that Rowling’s intended to make a play on words with Nights and Knights. Rowling’s uses many references from the tales of the Broken Mountain, and to the German era. For example, Rowling’s’ likes to portray Grindelwald as Hitler: "The Dark Lord's zeal for Purebloods is like Hitler and the
Aryan ideal, to which he did not conform at all himself. And so Voldemort is doing this. He takes his own inferiority, and turns it back on other people and attempts to exterminate in them what he hates in himself." (Philip Nel, 2001). Important to note as well, is that
Grindelwald was defeated in 1945, the year of Hitler’s’ death. Walpurgis Night is going strong now, but during the period surrounding the war, celebrations were very much subdued.
Walpurgis Night has evolved during the ages, adapting to a variety of social stigmas, religions, and to social media. Many who celebrate Walpurgis Night today do not know its origins, nor do they realize its significance in mainstream media. The aura surrounding the mountain, the occasional sightings of “spirits” due to the meteorological effects of the mountain, and a waning Catholic church have reinforced people’s beliefs in the legend of late. Locals revel at the thought of dressing as witches and devils, free to do as they wish without the all seeing eye of religion and dictatorship at last.
References
Cindy Eric, Knights of Walpurgis,
http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-cindy2.shtml
Philip Nel, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide. New York and
London: Continuum Publishing, 2001
Walpurgis, This is Harz, http://www.thisisharz.com/walpurgis.html
"Walpurgis Night." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2012.
Photos:
Sympatico, http://travel.sympatico.ca/monthly_travel_guide/articles/best_places_to_visi t_in_april.htm?feedname=PHOTO_GALLERY_TRAVEL_2012_APRIL_DESTINAT
IONS&pos=7&nolookup=true
Walpurgis, This is Harz, http://www.thisisharz.com/walpurgis.html