Walpurgis Night – the Witches’ Sabbath on the night of April 30

Walpurgisnacht, or Walpurgis Night, is a celebration that takes place every year on the night of April 30 and into the early morning of May 1.
Originally, this was the night before the feast day of Saint Walpurga, which commemorates her canonization and the transfer of her relics to the town of Eichstätt, Germany on 1 May 870.
However, the eve of this Christian celebration became synonymous with witches, who were believed to gather on that night on Brocken Mountain, the tallest peak in the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany, to conduct their rituals and engage in congress with the Devil himself.

Historically, Walpurga was an Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire who lived in the 8th century.
Born into a noble family, she was the daughter of Richard the Pilgrim and Wuna of Essex, England, both revered as saints of noble origin, and she traveled with her brothers to France to evangelize the still-pagan Germans and convert them to Christianity.
Later, she became a nun at the monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm, founded by her brother Willibald, where she succeeded him as abbess. After her death, her bones were transferred to Eichstätt and placed in a rocky niche, which was said to miraculously exude a therapeutic oil, the so-called ‘Walpurgis oil,’ that believed to originate from her bones and attracted pilgrims to her shrine, as it was reputed to be highly effective against disease.

Either way, Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for battling pests, rabies, and whooping cough, as well as witchcraft.
As invoking the Saint was believed to be powerful against evil magic, Medieval and Renaissance traditions held Walpurgis Night at the same time as witches celebrated their Sabbath and evil forces were at their peak and, according to German folklore, Walpurgis Night marked the witches’ gathering on the Brocken Mountain.
To ward off malevolent spirits and protect their livestock, people traditionally lit fires on the hillsides, a practice that still persists in some regions today.
For example in Bavaria, southeast Germany, the feast day is also known as Hexennacht, or “Witches’ Night”, and Revelers embrace the occasion by dressing as witches and demons, setting off fireworks, dancing, and playing loud music to drive away both witches and the lingering spirits of winter.
It is also suggested that Walpurgis Night is linked with older May Day festivals in northern Europe, which also involved lighting bonfires, such as the Gaelic festival Beltane.

In Czech Republic, 30 April is Pálení čarodějnic (Burning of the witches) or čarodějnice (The witches). Huge bonfires up to 8 metres tall with a witch figure are built and burnt in the evening, preferably on top of hills. Sudden black and dense smoke formations are cheered as a witch flying away, while 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 country, practiced since the pagan times.

In Lincolnshire, England, Walpurgis Night was observed in rural communities with a tradition of hanging cowslips to ward off evil while, 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” (kevadpüha). Influenced by German culture, the night originally stood for the gathering and meeting of witches and still today some people still dress up as witches to wander the streets.

In Finland, Walpurgis night is one of the four biggest holidays along with Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Midsummer. The celebration, which begins on the evening of 30 April and continues on 1 May, typically centres on the consumption of sima, a home-made low-alcohol mead, sparkling wine and other alcoholic beverages.

In Hungary elderberries decorated the houses, which were used to ward off witches this day, because the Hungarians believed that different plants can protect against various diseases or supernatural dangers.

While the name Walpurgis is taken from the 8th-century British Dumnonian Christian missionary Saint Walburga, valborg, as it is called in Swedish, also marks the arrival of spring, and the forms of celebration vary in different parts of the country and between different cities. Celebrations normally include lighting the bonfire, choral singing and a speech to honour the arrival of the spring season, often held by a local celebrity.
In the Middle Ages, the administrative year ended on 30 April and, accordingly, this was a day of festivity among the merchants and craftsmen of the town, with trick-or-treat, dancing and singing in preparation for the forthcoming celebration of spring.
Walpurgis bonfires are part of a Swedish tradition dating back to at least the early 18th century and, at Walpurgis, farm animals were let out to graze and bonfires (majbrasor, kasar) lit to scare away predators.
In Southern Sweden, an older tradition, no longer practiced, was for the younger people to collect greenery and branches from the woods at twilight used to adorn the houses of the village. The expected reward for this task was to be paid in eggs.

In The United Statesm The Church of Satan was founded on Sankt Walpurgisnacht in 1966. Its founder, Anton Szandor LaVey, states in The Satanic Bible that besides one’s own birthday and Halloween, Walpurgisnacht ranks as an important Satanic holiday, noting the Eve of May has been memorialized as “symbolizing the fruition of the spring equinox”, and chose the date well aware of the date’s traditional association with witchcraft.
Moreover, the Satanic Temple celebrates Hexennacht as “a solemn holiday to honor those who were victimized by superstition”.