Walpurgis Night in Europe

Walpurgis Night (or Hexennacht, meaning Witches' Night) falls on April 30th, May Day eve. Like Halloween, Walpurgis has its roots in ancient pagan customs, superstitions and festivals. People in Germany sing and dance around bonfires, wearing costumes and masks. In the Harz Mountains a dummy is burned in the bonfire and at midnight the May Queen appears, who chases away the witches until the next year. In the Norse tradition, Walpurgisnacht is considered the "Enclosure of the Fallen". It commemorates the time when Odin died to retrieve the knowledge of the runes, and the night is said to be a time of weakness in the boundary between the living and the dead.

But the name “Walpurgis” comes from a very different source. In the 8th Century, a woman named Valborg (other iterations of the name include Walpurga, Walpurgis, Wealdburg and Valderburger) founded the Catholic convent of Heidenheim in Wurtemburg, Germany. She herself later became a nun and was known for speaking out against witchcraft and sorcery. She was canonized a saint on May 1, 779. Since the celebration of her sainthood and the old Viking festival occurred around the same time, over the years the festivals and traditions intermingled until the hybrid pagan-Catholic celebration became known as Valborgsmässoafton or Walpurgisnacht – Walpurgis Night.

In German folklore, on Walpurgis Night witches meet on the Brocken mountain and “hold revels with their gods..." Brocken is the highest of the Harz Mountains of north central Germany. It is noted for the phenomenon of the Brocken spectre and for witches' revels which reputedly took place there on Walpurgis night. The Brocken Spectre is a magnified shadow of an observer, typically surrounded by rainbow-like bands, thrown onto a bank of cloud in high mountain areas when the sun is low. The phenomenon was first reported on the Brocken. About six thousand people gather annually in the village near the Brocken for Walpurgis celebrations.

In Sweden in the Middle Ages, the administrative year ended on April 30th. Accordingly, this was a day of festivity among the merchants and craftsmen of the town, with trick-or-treating, dancing and singing in preparation for the forthcoming celebration of spring. Among farmers and peasants, it was an important day in the calendar as the annual village meeting was held, with eggs and schnapps as refreshments. The meeting also chose a new alderman. Farm animals were let out to graze, and ever since the early 18th century bonfires (majbrasor, kasar) have been lit to scare away predators. People also fired guns, shook cowbells or yelled and screamed to keep the predators at bay. In some parts of the country, young people went round singing May songs in return for gifts of food on Walpurgis Eve. Those who gave them nothing were treated to a ‘nasty’ ditty. Elsewhere, people visited spas to drink the health-giving water and to amuse themselves. Much of the junk collected over the year in Sweden ends up on the Walpurgis bonfire — old doors and fencing, branches from pruned fruit trees, discarded bushes and old cardboard boxes. The bonfires are lit all over the country on 30 April.

Today in Finland, Walpurgis Night (Vapunaatto, Valborgsmässoafton) is, along with New Year’s Eve and Juhannus(the summer celebration), the biggest carnival-style festivity that takes place in the streets of Finland's towns and cities.

In Estonia, Volbriöö is celebrated on the night from April 30 to May 1, with the following day (May 1) being a public holiday of lesser importance called "Spring Day" (Kevadpüha). Yet Volbriöö itself has considerable importance as one of the main reasons to party across the country. Influenced by German culture, the night originally stood for the gathering and meeting of witches. Nowadays some people still dress up as witches and wander the streets in a carnival-like mood. Yet for most Estonians, Volbriöö has become a reason to celebrate the arrival of Spring with huge outdoor drinking and partying throughout the night.