In the night from April 30th to May 1st there’ s the celtic celebration called Beltane: the transition to the warm and beautiful season. Traditionally people celebrate this event by dancing around huge fires.
Here in Germany this night is called Walpurgisnacht. The witches fly to the top of the Blocksberg (which is actually called “Brocken“) in the Harz and dance wildly around their fires, too.
More fires
Furthermore in our region there are so-called Maiwachen. A Maie is erected (which is traditionally a young birch) which has on top of it a wreath with colorful ribbons and a rag doll called Paias.
In May every weekend the Maie is guarded by several people, while other villagers try to bring it down. If they succeed, they are out of the game and the Maiwache ends for the loosing party. However there is not much more to lose than honor. 😉
At the end of the month Maie and Paias are going to be burned as an offering for the warm season. (Yes, fires are obviously an important thing.)
Birch maidens
Also there is the tradition that young men put a birch tree at the window of their beloved … beautifully decorated and with her name on it.
Lina and I were never friends of Maiwachen and would have chased any boy off the farm who sawed off a tree for us. 🙂 We find them much nicer when they can grow and flourish.
Lights and ashes
But we love the idea of lighting a fire on Walpurgisnacht! Lina in particular always celebrates this occasion extensively and collects the ashes of the fire the next morning. She keeps it in the house for a year to bring good luck. Until it is scattered the next year on Beltane.
So no matter if you celebrate Beltane or Walpurgisnacht or spend the night on May 1st in a completely different way: we wish you all good weather, happy dancing and singing with this beautiful song by S.J. Tucker: Witch’s rune
Credits
Dress: selfmade