The Season of the Witch

If I had known that coming to Germany would mean twice as much Halloween, I wouldn’t have even given Spain a second thought when I was looking into spending a year abroad.

Today is April 30th, Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis Night). And while Walpurga would make an excellent name for a warty, snaggle-toothed crone, today is another Saint’s Day— that of Saint Walpurga, who Germans of old hailed for battling pest, rabies, whooping cough, and WITCHES!

In the 16th and 17th centuries, despite all the best efforts of the Catholic church, paganism was still practiced in the more remote areas of Germany, and the forests of the Harz mountains between the rivers Elbe and Wese were one such place. Their reputation for being a site of folk beliefs and pagan rituals led to rumors and superstition about the mountains, and eventually god-fearing Germans came to the conclusion that the highest peak in the Harz, the Brocken, was where witches met one night a year to dance and plan all sorts of horrible misfortunes for the year to come. This peak even plays a role in Goethe’s famous play, Faust.  

These days, however, Walpurgisnacht has a much more innocent connotation. You may or may not have heard of the book Die Kleine Hexe (The Little Witch). It’s a beloved children’s book published in the 1950s that tells the story of a sweet, kind little witch whose dearest wish is to be allowed to fly with the big witches around the Brocken peak on Walpurgisnacht, but she is only 127 years old, and therefore much too young. She manages to sneak in anyway, but is caught, and her broom is burnt as punishment. However, the older witches promise her she can join in the next year, just as long as she promises to be a good witch until then. So our little witch spends a year doing good deeds, making friends with the animals who live in her forest and standing up to the villains she meets. Come Walpurgisnacht, she discovers that the other witches meant she had to be good at being evil. Frustrated at this, she conjures the other witches brooms and spellbooks away from them and contents herself with using them to create her own cozy little Walpurgisnacht fire.

Last week, at the end of spring break, my host parents actually took me to visit the Harz mountains! It was about a 2 hour drive away from where we live further north, and the first day warm enough to wear shorts since August. We spent the morning hiking from vantage point to vantage point and eventually made our way to the one and only Hexentanzplatz (The Witches' Dance Floor) a short drive away in Thale. This is the site of the largest Walpurgis celebration in Germany. On the night of April 30th, there is a bonfire, live music, and of course, dancing witches. 

Since the Harz mountains are a liiiiittle bit out of reach for me, I celebrated Walpurgisnacht one neighborhood over from mine in my town, Langwedel. We have a house here called the Häuslingshaus that dates back to 1768. So it's the perfect setting for a party where the guests of honor are 18th century witches!

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I had a blast. A lot of German teenagers spend Walpurgisnacht out partying because there's no school the next day, but this was definitely more my speed. There was live music at the fire, bratwurst, facepainting, a fortune teller who may or may not have told me I'm soon to meet a handsome stranger who fits the description of tall-dark-and-handsome, little kids running around dressed like witches, and even a fire spinner who did a routine to 1920s jazz music. And all of this just a 3 minute bike ride from my house.

I know a lot of exchange students want to be placed in big cities like Hamburg or Munich, but you really don't need that to get the most out of an exchange year. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and if someone mentions a witch party at that 250 year old house 3 minutes from where you live, you grab a jacket, hop on your bike, and go!

bis zum nächsten Mal!

Marli