How to Celebrate Walpurgis Night: 7 Traditions for Spring's Halloween
It's a chilly night of bright fires, witches' Sabbaths, widely held superstitions, and roaming demon dogs. As cool winds whip mostly-bare trees back and forth, the night sky is thought to fill with cackling witches and wizards, devils and demons, ghosts and goblins, and specters and skeletons. And you're telling me it takes place in the SPRING?
You bet: on April 30th, approximately six months after Halloween, people all over the world celebrate spring's own spooky holiday -- Walpurgis Night. It is called Walpurgisnacht in German-speaking cultures, May Day Eve in English-speaking cultures, and heralds the May 1st celebration of Beltane in Gaelic and Pagan cultures. April 30th is even the dominant "spooky holiday" in most Central European and Scandinavian countries, where it has more cultural currency than October 31st.
The holiday is said to be Satan's last hurrah before the dawn of May Day (or Beltane), which ushers in the light, warmth, and life that evil spirits seem to revile. All the black magic covens across the world are said to hold wild orgies in the woods or on high hills, with the biggest, most raucous celebration taking place on Germany's gloomy Brocken, the peak of the Harz Mountains, where Satan himself always makes a special appearance. The Powers of Darkness go out with a bang just as they began their six-month reign on October 31st: by taking advantage of the thin veil between the living and the dead and stirring up mischief.
If you hope to make it through the evening without being tormented by dreams of witches, goblins, and the undead, here are a few suggestions from celebrants around the world.
7. BE WITH PEOPLE, HAVE FUN, AND GET LOUD
Walpurgis Night is all about community: about making a loud, wild noise to scare off humanity's ancient adversaries, so try to get some friends together and make some mischief of your own. Have a great time: prank each other (although it is traditional to prank strangers, that’s not quite in the spirit of human fellowship, is it?), make jokes, play music, and enjoy each other’s company.
Walpurgisnacht is all about banding together and flipping a collective middle-finger to the misanthropic forces that are fighting to screw up our lives, confuse our togetherness, and turn our love for each other into hate. Especially in today’s highly politicized, venomous culture of division, make an effort to have fun, cut loose, and enjoy your friends.
6. WARD OFF THE ROAMING DEVIL-DOGS
In my house growing up, before we went to bed on Christmas Eve we left out cookies and milk for Santa Claus and carrots for his reindeer. In Central Europe they have a similar tradition of decidedly spookier kind. Since the invisible world unleashes its hellhounds on earth, it is considered advisable to keep the brutes happy and out of your house. To do this, a traditional treat left outside is Ankenschnitt: buttered bread liberally drizzled in honey. Make plenty of Ankenschnitt for the members of your household, but leave an extra yummy piece on your doorstep for the devil dogs to ensure a year of good health, good weather, and a good harvest.
5. THE HANGING OF THE GREENS
Like Christmas, Walpurgis Night is solemnized by decking the halls with greenery. In this instance, instead of evergreens, we’re talking about blooming springtime foliage: flowers, shrubbery, and – if at all possible – boughs of freshly leafing oak. After being blessed, these fragrant bundles are to be hung around your house’s openings to keep evil spirits at bay.
Festoon your door and window frames with the flowery sheaves and you can expect to scare off supernatural predators. Other ways to warn evil away include decorating a May pole with greens, ribbons, and flowers, and planting an upside-down broomstick (handle down) in your yard. To ensure a lucky love life, decorate a birch branch with bright ribbons and sneak it into your lover’s yard.
4. LISTEN TO THESE ATMOSPHERIC, CLASSICAL SONGS
Walpurgisnacht was the darling of composers during the Romantic era, inspiring everyone from Brahms to Schubert to write spooky songs loaded with ribald energy and moral chaos. In general I have to recommend THIS whole album: Gil Shaham’s “The Devil’s Dance.” Loaded with diabolical classical music depicting witches, ghosts, imps, demons, fiddling skeletons, witches’ Sabbaths, and chuckling devils. I listen to it at Hallowe’en, too, of course, and recommend it for any spooky party, any time of year.
Specifically I have to recommend the classics:
Camille Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre,”
Hector Berlioz’s “Witches’ Sabbath,”
Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,"
Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,”
Johannes Brahms’ “Walpurgisnacht,”
Felix Mendelssohn’s “Witches’ Song,”
Pablo Sarasate’s “Fantasy on Faust,” and
Guiseppe Tartini’s “The Devil’s Trill.”
Frantic, wild, and decadent, this music will immediately set the tone for any witchy gathering.
But you do you! -- listen to whatever crazy, chaotic, dance music you like from whatever era or genre you like. I myself have also always loved playing wild, prog-rock revels, the likes of Electric Light Orchestra's spooky/trippy "Daybreaker" Mannheim Steamroller's "Harvest Dance," Rick Wakeman's "Judas Iscariot," or pretty much anything on The Killers' "Hot Fuss" album. Have fun.