German folklore tells us that on April 30, Walpurgis Night, witches met on Brocken mountain (the highest peak of the Harz mountains) and partied with the Devil. That night, also called May Day's Eve, is widely celebrated throughout Northern and Central Europe. People celebrate with costumes, bonfires, fireworks, folk songs, and dancing.
What began as a pagan festival to welcome spring evolved into a night of fear and witch-burning, but today Walpurgis Nacht is like another Halloween, and it falls exactly six months from our holiday.
"Medieval Germany bore witness to some of the largest and most gruesome witch hunts in history. Walpurgisnacht is even sometimes referred to as the Hexenbrunnen (the burning of the witches) due to its bloody past."
Naina Pottamkulam - from I am Expat (Updated: 30 April 2022)
In the German town of Wolfshägen im Harz, a group of women who call themselves Wolfshäger Hexenbrut (Witches of Wolfshägen),
dance their choreographed Witches' Broom Dance to the music, Schüttel Deinen Speck (Shake Your Bacon), by Peter Fox.
Last Monday, although we didn't have brooms, we gathered around a video and enjoyed dancing while watching their choreography for ideas.
In medieval times, Saint Walpurgis Night was the night before the feast day of Saint Walpurga. She was an Anglo-Saxon missionary, a nun and abbess, who went to the Frankish Empire to convert the pagan Germans. Her current feast day in the Catholic calendar is February 25 (along with many other saints), but April 30 is the night that bears her name.
She is invoked for protection from storms, pestilence, rabies, whooping cough, sorcery, and witchcraft, and because she recorded her brother's travels in Palestine, she is often called the first female author of both England and Germany. (from Wikipedia)
According to Catholic Saints of the Day (slightly edited for clarity):
"The night before 1 May, the date of the transfer of Walburga’s relics to Eichstatt in 870, is known as Walpurgisnacht; it is also a pagan festival marking the beginning of summer and the revels of witches. Though the saint had no connection with this festival, her name became associated with witchcraft and country superstitions because of the date. It is possible that the protection of crops ascribed to her, represented by three ears of corn in her icons may have been transferred to her from Mother Earth because of the connection to this pagan holiday. "
Tutorial by the dance group - Wolfshäger Hexenbrut
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