The Haunted Palace Blog

On the night of the 30 April / 1 May every year in Germany, a very special festival takes place. This festival, known as Hexennacht, which translates as Witches’ Night, is held across Germany. The most well-known of these celebrations can be found in Bavaria and on Mt. Brocken in the Harz mountain range in North Germany. One of the villages in Mt. Brocken, Thale, is the site of the famous Hexentansplatz (witches’ dance floor) found on the mountain plateau high above the tiny village[1].

Over the centuries, Hexennacht has evolved, embracing a mixture of pagan and modern customs to create a fascinating spectacle. Houses are decorated with blessed sprigs of foliage, which conjures up images of pagan goddesses, while ankenschnitt (bread with honey and butter) is offered to the phantom hounds[2] which are said to tread the earth on this night. As the sun goes down, enormous bonfires are lit. These bonfires, reminiscent of the ancient pagan festival of Beltane, were once a way to welcome spring and later believed to ward off evil spirits, but are now the scene of a joyous celebration. In many places, people dance around the bonfire, performing the ‘Tanz in den Mai’, the dance into May[3], light fireworks, play practical jokes on each other, such as spraying cars with shaving foam[4], sing folk songs, drink beer, and eat traditional German food. As the flames subside, lovers sometimes come forward and together perform the corn jump over the dying embers[5].

And what about the witches? Revellers will often dress as witches to perform the dance, while in some places a wooden effigy of a witch is thrown onto the bonfire to burn. The fact that people dress as witches, as well as burning a witch effigy, in my mind, reveals both a contradiction and a duality which, although now often forgotten, is still, as it was in the past, embedded in the heart of Hexennacht.

The Witches of Mt. Brocken

As was mentioned earlier, Hexennacht probably evolved from the May Day pagan festival of Beltane that was once celebrated all over Europe. Beltane occurs precisely 6 months after the festival of Samhain, which marks the end of the harvest season and the coming of winter. This date of the 30 May was also believed to be the day when in the old Norse religion, locals believed that the god Woden married his love, Freya, on Mt. Brocken[6].

As the centuries passed, Christianity took hold of the continent, erasing the ancient religion, and yet not all of the old beliefs died away. Instead, they continued to be practised, especially in rural communities, well into the Renaissance period, even if the meaning behind them changed and fear and superstition crept in. The fires, no longer lit in the worship of the ancient goddess of spring but now as protection against harmful spirits, demons, and witches.

Folkloric traditions of the region recount how on the 30 May, witches would gather on Mt. Brocken to elect leaders, to discuss their affairs, make plans, and confer with their master, the Devil himself[7], who may or may not have been a corrupted form of Woden.

For protection, locals would burn straw men and bang pots and pans and ring church bells to scare off witches who were said to hate loud noises[8]. Old belongings were also burnt for good luck. These practices must have intensified during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when the terrible witch hunts swept through the country, gripping the continent in a frenzy of panic. The practice of burning witch effigies could be seen as a reminder of these dark periods of German history.

As well as the bonfires, people of this area, as well as in many other parts of Europe, would pray to Saint Walpurga for protection, and so this night also became known as Saint Walpurgis Night or in German, Walpurgisnacht, the eve of the day on which she became a saint.

Saint Walpurga and Witchcraft

Saint Walpurga was born in Devon in England in AD 710, into a noble family, her father being Richard the Pilgrim and her mother, Wuna of Wessex. When Richard undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, he placed Walpurga, then aged 11, in the care of the abbess of the double monastery of Wimborne Abbey. A double monastery was a religious house that contained 2 separate communities of nuns and monks. Richard died a year later in Lucca and Walpurga stayed on at the abbey for the next 26 years[9].

Walpurga’s brothers, Willibald and Winibald, were also extremely devout, and both were eventually ordained as priests in Eichstatt, which is now in present-day Bavaria. Walpurga travelled with her brothers to Francia, becoming a nun at the double monastery of Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm (now located in Bavaria)[10], which was founded by Willibald. On her journey to Germany, she was said to have been able to calm the rough seas and cure the sick[11]. The reputation she gained might have helped her when she also took an active role in trying to convert the still pagan locals to Christianity. Her brothers must have had confidence in their sister’s abilities as they both appointed her as their successor. This meant that on their deaths, she became the abbess of the monastery and later the superintendent of the Heidenheim monastery[12].

Walpurga died on 25 February 777 (although some sources put the year as 779) and on 1 May 870, her relics were taken to Eichstatt, where she was canonised, and her bones placed in a rocky niche. After she was interred, her shrine was said to produce a miraculous therapeutic oil and as a result became a place of pilgrimage[13]. The first of May was established as her festival day and she became a popular saint, especially in England[14], France, and Germany. She’s often depicted in iconography as holding bandages in her hand, a reminder of her proficiency in medicine and was prayed to for help and protection from rabies, pests, whooping cough, and, of course, witchcraft[15].

A Full Circle

The timing of Saint Walpurga’s canonisation raises an interesting question. Was it done intentionally to coincide with the ancient religious festival or was it simply a lucky coincidence? Whatever the answer, there is no question that the worship of Saint Walpurga did for a time change the meaning of the old tradition. The bonfires coming to represent the battle between light and dark or in other words, Saint Walpurga (Christianity) versus the forces of evil and ‘ungodly’ practices (paganism) embodied in the image of a witch.

However, it’s interesting to see how the symbolism of the bonfires has come full circle. They now again represent the welcoming of the spring but with a twist.

On a last note, this merging of these different beliefs can nowhere be better seen than in Goethe’s Faust, where he describes how Faust is taken to Brocken by Mephisto to join the witches carousing on Saint Walpurgis Night,

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[1] Hexentanzplatz (Witches’ Dance Floor)
[2] Walpurgisnacht (Hexennacht)
[3] Ibid
[4] Why do Germans celebrate April 30th? – The Local
[5] Walpurgisnacht (Hexennacht): The German Night of the Witches explained
[6] Ibid
[7] Dance into May with the Witches- Legend + List of Events – Travel, Events & Culture Tips for Americans Stationed in Germany
[8] Walpurgis Night in Germany in 2024 | There is a Day for that!
[9] Meyrick, T. & Newman, S.J.H., (1844). Family of St. Richard, the Saxon
[10] Saint Walpurga
[11] Walpurga – Catholic Saints Day
[12] Saint Walpurga
[13] Ibid
[14] Walpurgis Night
[15] Walpurga – Catholic Saints Day

Bibliography

Dance into May with the Witches- Legend + List of Events – Travel, Events & Culture Tips for Americans Stationed in Germany (militaryingermany.com)

Hexentanzplatz (Witches’ Dance Floor) – Thale, Germany – Atlas Obscura

Kernan, A., (2021), The Ultimate Guide to the The Witches Wheel of the Year: Rituals, Spells & Practices for Magical Sabbats, Holidays & Celebrations, Fair Winds Press

Meyrick, T. & Newman, S.J.H., (1844). Family of St. Richard, the Saxon

Saint Walpurga – Wikipedia

Walpurgisnacht (Hexennacht): The German Night of the Witches explained (iamexpat.de)

Walpurgis Night in Germany in 2024 | There is a Day for that!

Walpurga – Catholic Saints Day