It’s almost upon us! Walpurgisnacht, or Walpurgis Night, falls on the night of April 30th each year. By the time you’re reading this it may well have already occurred. Depending on where you live in the world, this may or may not be or have been a big deal. Where I live in the southern United States, it’d be hard to find anybody who’s ever even heard of it. Also known as Walpurgis Eve, the night before Walpurgis Day, aka May Day, although celebrations of May Day and Walpurgis Day are not connected. In fact their points of origin are diametrically opposed. May Day (not to be associated with the May Day holiday celebrated in Communist countries, to further complicate things) is Beltane in Gaelic countries, a holy day for practitioners of witchcraft, whereas Saint Walpurga was, and likely is, still invoked through prayer as a force to curtail the activity of witches.
Walpurgisnacht will always be associated with vampires thanks to DRACULA and its inclusion by Bram Stoker, a night on which buried treasures glowed in the dark and evil spirits roamed the world of the living.
I long to go into stores in April and see Walpurgisnacht merchandise on the shelves. It’s like a second Halloween, and ought to be celebrated as such!
