Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night, an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night, also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve and Walpurgisnacht, is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, and is celebrated on the night of 30 April and the day of 1 May. This feast commemorates the canonization of Saint Walpurga and the movement of her relics to Eichstätt, both of which occurred on 1 May 870.
Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling "pest, rabies, and whooping cough, as well as against witchcraft". Christians prayed to God through the intercession of Saint Walpurga in order to protect themselves from witchcraft, as Saint Walpurga was successful in converting the local populace to Christianity. In parts of Europe, people continue to light bonfires on Saint Walpurga's Eve in order to ward off evil spirits and witches. Others have historically made Christian pilgrimages to Saint Walpurga's tomb in Eichstätt on the Feast of Saint Walpurga, often obtaining vials of Saint Walpurga's oil.
It is suggested that Walpurgis Night is linked with older May Day festivals in northern Europe, which also involved lighting bonfires at night, for example the Gaelic festival Beltane.
Local variants of Walpurgis Night are observed throughout Northern and Central Europe in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Estonia. In Finland, Denmark and Norway, the tradition with bonfires to ward off the witches is observed as Saint John's Eve, which commemorates the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
Name
The date of Saint Walpurga's canonization came to be known as Sankt Walpurgisnacht in German. The name of the holiday is often shortened to Walpurgisnacht, Valborgsmässoafton, Vappen, Vappu, Volbriöö, Valpurgijos naktis, Valpurģu nakts or Valpurģi, and čarodějnice or Valpuržina noc. In English, it is known as Saint Walpurga's Night, Saint Walburga's Night, Walpurgis Night, Saint Walpurga's Eve, Saint Walburga's Eve, the Feast of Saint Walpurga or the Feast of Saint Walburga. The Germanic term Walpurgisnacht is recorded in 1668 by Johannes Praetorius as S. Walpurgis Nacht or S. Walpurgis Abend. An earlier mention of Walpurgis and S. Walpurgis Abend is in the 1603 edition of the Calendarium perpetuum of Johann Coler, who also refers to the following day, 1 May, as Jacobi Philippi, feast day of the apostles James the Less and Philip in the Western Christian calendar of saints.History
The festival of Walpurgis Night is named after the English Christian missionary Saint Walpurga. The daughter of Saint Richard the Pilgrim and sister of Saint Willibald, Saint Walpurga was born in Devon, England, in AD 710. Born into a prominent Anglo-Saxon family, Saint Walpurga studied medicine and became a Christian missionary to Germany, where she founded a double monastery in Heidenheim. As such, Christian artwork often depicts her holding bandages in her hand. As a result of Saint Walpurga's evangelism in Germany, the people there converted to Christianity from heathenism. In addition, "the monastery became an education center and 'soon became famous as a center of culture. Saint Walpurga was also known to repel the effects of witchcraft. Saint Walpurga died on 25 February 777 and her tomb, to this day, produces holy oil, which is said to heal sickness; Benedictine nuns distribute this oil in vials to Christian pilgrims who visit Saint Walpurga's tomb.The canonization of Walpurga and the movement of her relics to Eichstätt occurred on 1 May in the year 870, thus leading to the Feast of Saint Walpurga and its eve, Walpurgis Night, being popularly observed on this date. She quickly became one of the most popular saints in England, Germany, and France. When the bishop had Saint Walpurga's relics moved to Eichstätt, "miraculous cures were reported as her remains traveled along the route". Miracle cures were later reported from ailing people who anointed themselves with a fluid known as Walburga's oil that drained from the rock at her shrine at Eichstätt.
The date of Walpurgis Night coincided with an older May Eve festival, celebrated in much of northern Europe with the lighting of bonfires at night. A variety of festivals of pre-Christian origin had been celebrated at this time to mark the beginning of summer, including Beltane in Ireland and Britain. Folklorist Jack Santino says "Her day and its traditions almost certainly are traceable to pre-Christian celebrations that took place at this time, on the first of May". Art historian Pamela Berger noted Walpurga's association with sheaves of grain, and suggested that her cult was adapted from pagan agrarian goddesses.
In modern times, many Christians continue to make religious pilgrimages to Saint Walburga's tomb in Eichstätt on Saint Walburga's Day; in the 19th century, the number of pilgrims travelling to the Church of St. Walpurgis was described as "many thousand". Due to 1 May being the date of Saint Walpurga's feast, it has become associated with other May Day celebrations and regional traditions, especially in Finland and Sweden. Given that the intercession of Saint Walpurga was believed to be efficacious against evil magic, medieval and Renaissance tradition held that, during Walpurgis Night, witches celebrated a sabbath and evil powers were at their strongest. In German folklore, Walpurgis Night was believed to be the night of a witches' meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz mountains, a range of wooded hills in central Germany. To ward off evil and protect themselves and their livestock, people would traditionally light fires on the hillsides, a tradition that continues in some regions today. In Bavaria, the feast day is sometimes called Hexennacht, literally "Witches' Night", on which revelers dress as witches and demons, set off fireworks, dance and play loud music, which is said to drive the witches and winter spirits away.
Regional variations
Czech Republic
30 April is Pálení čarodějnic or čarodějnice in the Czech Republic. Huge bonfires up to tall with a witch figure are built and burnt in the evening, preferably on top of hills. Young people gather around. Sudden black and dense smoke formations are cheered as "a witch flying away". An effigy of a witch is held up and thrown into a bonfire to burn.In some places, it is customary to burn a puppet representing a witch on the bonfire. It is still a widespread feast in the Czech Republic, practiced since the pagan times.
As evening advances to midnight and fire is on the wane, it is time to go search for a cherry tree in blossom. This is another feast, connected with 1 May. Young women should be kissed past midnight under a blossoming cherry tree, as they "will not dry up" for an entire year. The First of May is celebrated then as "the day of those in love", in reference to the famous incipit of the poem Máj by Karel Hynek Mácha.
England
In Lincolnshire, Walpurgis Night was observed in rural communities until the second half of the 20th century, with a tradition of hanging cowslips to ward off evil.Estonia
In Estonia, volbriöö is celebrated throughout the night of 30 April and into the early hours of 1 May, where 1 May is a public holiday called "Spring Day". Volbriöö is an important and widespread celebration of the arrival of spring in the country. Influenced by German culture, the night originally stood for the gathering and meeting of witches. Modern people still dress up as witches to wander the streets in a carnival-like mood.The volbriöö celebrations are especially vigorous in Tartu, the university town in southern Estonia. For Estonian students in student corporations, the night starts with a traditional procession through the streets of Tartu, followed by visiting each other's corporation houses throughout the night.
Finland
In Finland, Walpurgis night is one of the four biggest holidays along with Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and Midsummer. Walpurgis witnesses the biggest carnival-style festival held in Finland's cities and towns. The celebration, which begins on the evening of 30 April and continues on 1 May, typically centres on the consumption of sima, sparkling wine and other alcoholic beverages. Student traditions, particularly those of engineering students, are one of the main characteristics of vappu. Since the end of the 19th century, this traditional upper-class feast has been appropriated by university students. Many high school alumni wear the black and white student cap and many higher education students wear student coveralls. One tradition is to drink sima, a home-made low-alcohol mead, along with freshly cooked tippaleipä.In the capital, Helsinki, and its surrounding region, fixtures include the capping on 30 April at 6 pm of Havis Amanda, a nude female statue in Market Square, and the biennially alternating publications of ribald matter called äpy and Julkku, by engineering students of Aalto University. Both are sophomoric; but while Julkku is a standard magazine, Äpy is always a gimmick. Classic forms have included an äpy printed on toilet paper and on a bedsheet. Often, äpy has been stuffed inside standard industrial packages, such as sardine cans and milk cartons. For most university students, vappu starts a week before the day of celebration. The festivities also include a picnic on 1 May, which is sometimes more lavish, particularly in Ullanlinnanmäki in central Helsinki.
In Turku, it has become a tradition to cap the Posankka statue.
In Oulu, the statue of Frans Michael Franzén is traditionally capped by the Guild of the Humanties in the University of Oulu. This is followed by the "dipping" of the students of technical fields ending their freshman year. This means that the freshmen plunge into a cold ditch in the nearby park, one by one.
vappu coincides with the socialist International Workers' Day parade. Expanding from the parties of the left, the whole of the Finnish political scene has adopted vappu as the day to go out on stumps and agitate. This is not limited only to political activists; many institutions, such as the Lutheran Church of Finland, have followed suit, marching and making speeches. Left-wing activists of the 1970s still party on May Day. Carnivals are arranged, and many radio stations play leftist songs, such as The Internationale.
Traditionally, 1 May is celebrated by the way of a picnic in a park. For most, the picnic is enjoyed with friends on a blanket with food and sparkling wine. Some people arrange extremely lavish picnics with pavilions, white tablecloths, silver candelabras, classical music, and extravagant food. The picnic usually starts early in the morning, where some of the previous night's party-goers continue their celebrations from the previous night.
Some student organisations reserve areas where they traditionally camp every year. Student caps, mead, streamers and balloons have their role in the picnic and the celebration as a whole.