Among the May Day celebrations is Hexennacht or Witches' Night, from dusk April 30 to dawn May 1. On that night, they say witches gather atop the Brocken, the highest place in the Harz Mountain Range of Germany. The Brocken is also home to a spectral apparition.
READ: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
See also:
The highest peak in northern Europe, the Brocken overlooks rolling hills of forest and fog. In the old days, on Hexennacht witches come from far and wide in celebration of spring. Gatherings begin before recorded history, as the Brocken has a magical secret of its own.
Later the gatherings are said to be revels with the Devil. While the Christian Devil doesn't appear until Anno Domini, the Hebrew ha-satan is first mentioned in the Abrahamic Book of Job, written between 931 and 721 BCE.
See also:
A śāṭān (Hebrew: שָׂטָן) is an accuser or adversary. Ha-Satan hasSāṭān (הַשָּׂטָן) refers to "the Satan", at first a subordinate then adversary of Yahweh. The earliest mention of a witch comes from Hebrew Biblical references written between 931 and 721 BCE.
See also:
In the story, Saul, the first king of Israel, needs advice on the upcoming battle with the Philistines, and Yahweh is not being helpful. Saul summons the Witch of Endor to raise the spirit of the prophet Samuel.
It doesn't go well for Saul. The prediction is doom. His two sons die in battle and Saul takes his own life. The witch is the oracle or diviner, a profession known for thousands of years as priestess, shaman or spirit worker. As a medium she also communicates with the dead.
See also:
Witches go back to Mesopotamian times, when magic and spirituality are part of normal daily life. At this time, witches are not specifically considered evil. They can take light or dark forms to help others using a combination of magical and medical knowledge.
The word witch comes from the Old English (450 CE - 1150 CE), masc. wicca and fem. wicce. Throughout Europe society is suffused with nature magic. Demonizing these beliefs, laws are passed against witchcraft, defined as "using supernatural powers to harm others".
See also:
European witchcraft goes back to Classical Antiquity (8 BC - 5 AD). Rome still has pagan beliefs. Christianity begins its spread in the first century AD. By 310 AD it's the legal religion of Rome.
Crop failure, famine, sickness, poverty are blamed on witches, who by the Middle Ages are automatically connected to Satan. The 1428 AD Valais Witch Trials in Switzerland comprise the first systematic European Witch-Hunt. It lasts eight years, causing deaths of 367 people.
See also:
On Hexennacht in Germany, powers of magic and May day revelry sizzle through the air as the witches start their wild ride. People of antiquity hang charms and perform rituals, and use prayer to guard against evil energies.
They sprinkle wild rue, a toxic plant in large doses, braid red ribbons in the manes of horses, entomb dead cats or spell bottles in the walls, and don't go out after dark. An iron knife buried at the front door prevents entry by malevolent entities.
See also:
Citizens hang iron horseshoes to ward off hostile magic. They carve hexafoils, or 6-petal daisy wheels, and other anti-evil marks such as the Drudenfuß (Drudenfuss) or Drude's Foot in walls or beams. Drude is an evil spirit whose name becomes synonymous with 'witch.'
The Drudenfuß is known by various names including Drudenkreuz "drude's cross"; Alpfuß or Alfenfuß "elf-foot" or Alpkreuz "elf-cross". It may also be called Pentalpha (pentagram) or Fünfstern (Five-Star). While the 5-pt star is preferred, the Drudenkreuz will rarely have six.
See also:
In the 9th century AD, it all changes. The traditional Hexennacht is replaced with Walpurgisnacht, named for St. Walburga of Francia (now Württemberg). The people are told Walburga has the power to repel witchcraft.
People of antiquity are practical polytheists and see no harm in being careful. They invoke the saint along with undertaking the age-old traditional rituals.
See also:
By the 10th and 11th centuries Christianity has a firm foothold in Europe. The First Crusade (1096 AD) is about to begin.
Meanwhile, in myth and lore, witches put flying ointment on their spindles or distaffs, pack up the goats and cats and frolicking imps and go off to the Brocken anyway. Superstitious activities of fearful mortals mean little so far.
See also:
In his famous 1808 work, Faust, German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe describes the Brocken as the site of witch festivities on Walpurgisnacht:
"Now, to the Brocken, the witches ride;
The stubble is gold and the corn is green;
There is the carnival crew to be seen,
And Squire Urianus will come to preside.
So over the valleys, our company floats,
With witches a-farting on stinking old goats."
In 1883 the scholar Jacob Grimm writes,
“There is a mountain very high and bare… whereon it is given out that witches hold their dance on Walpurgis night.”
See also:
The scholarly Grimms also identify the ancient German goddess Frau Holle / Hulda / Holda as a powerful female deity with different facets. She embodies aspects of the mother goddess and predates the Norse pantheon.
As pagan belief fades, Frau Holle becomes associated with witchcraft, or harmful magic, because of her leadership role in the Wild Hunt; because her strength threatens the dominant ideology; and her aspect of domestic goddess and receiver of souls.
See also;
Frau Holle is a patron of spinning and weaving, which like many women's arts is linked to witchcraft, as in weaving a spell. Early witches fly on spindles, pointed rods used when spinning fibers by hand. The spindle twists the wool to create yarn or thread.
Brooms are a more recent mode of transport. Mention of witches on brooms first appears in 1451, in French poet Martin Le Franc's manuscript Le Champion des Dames (Defender of Ladies).
See also:
Witchcraft is associated with harmful magic well into the 20th century. Contemporary neo-pagan and Wiccan groups popularize the concept of benign witchcraft or spiritual observance as opposed to malevolent magic, reviving pre-Christian nature beliefs.
In the medieval Old World, witches can be male or female or both, although women are especially guilty when accused. Witches are said to indulge in lascivious or obscene behavior.
See also:
Said to be shape-shifters who can turn to wolves or cats, they can also cast the evil eye from a distance, rendering cows dry and fields barren. They send elves out to spread disease. They cook and eat small children lost in the woods.
Walburga is an 8th century English nun from Devon. Her brother opens an abbey at Heidenheim in Francia, now Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He names her his successor when he dies, making her an abbess.
See also:
Walburga spends much time trying to convert Germanic pagans to Christianity. She passes away peacefully in 777 or 779. Almost a century later, in 870, her relics are brought to Eichstätt, Bavaria, and she's canonized.
At Eichstätt, her bones are placed in a rocky niche. According to stories the tomb begins to exude a miraculous therapeutic oil.
See also:
Pilgrims continue to come by the thousands to visit her shrine and purchase the miracle oil. Because the magical production of the oil is not seen by adherents as witchcraft, it fattens the wallets of Eichstätt in both religious and secular contexts.
German Catholics celebrate May 1 as Walburga's day of canonization. The night of April 30 is marked as Walpurgis Night or Walpurgis Eve. In modern times it's a night of Hallowe'en style pranks. Hexennacht is bigger than Halloween in Germany until recently.
See also:
Nowadays, our witches put jimsonweed flying ointment on their Vroombas and take off to the Brocken in the Harz Mountains every May Day Eve. They want to arrive before nightfall. Not only is the Brocken the highest point of the Harz, it's also home to a miracle of light.
The Brocken Specter (Spectre) is the enlarged shadow of the observer reflecting from clouds, surrounded by a bright colorful halo of glory rings or radial rainbow. The halo resembles the aura often portrayed around the head of a saint.
See also:
The effect appears when the sun shines from behind the observer onto a large area of fog or cloud. Dawn and dusk are the best times to see one, as the sun is low. The term Brocken Specter originates in 1780.
Johann Silberschlag, pastor and natural philosopher, observes the phenomenon and writes about the experience. It becomes a major attraction of the Brocken. In his poem, Constancy to an Ideal Object, English Romantic poet Coleridge highlights his experience.
See also:
Constancy to an Ideal Object
And art thou nothing? Such thou art, as when The woodman winding westward up the glen At wintry dawn, where o’er the sheep-track’s maze The viewless snow-mist weaves a glist’ning haze, Sees full before him, gliding without tread, An image with a glory round its head; The enamoured rustic worships its fair hues, Nor knows he makes the shadow he pursues!
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1828
- after encountering a Brocken Specter
See also:
These days, neo-pagans, nature worshippers, specter seekers, witches and warlocks ascend the Brocken on the night of April 30 to celebrate the arrival of spring. It's an atmosphere of community, revelry and a spark of magic.
See also: