Do you know what the date will be six months from now (before reading further!)?
Tonight, April 30, we are at the eve of the Spring Cross Quarter Day, which was known by Germanic peoples in Europe as “Walpurgisnacht” ~ the night of the witches!
Six months form now it will be eve of the Autumn Cross Quarter, also known as All Hallow’d Eve ~ when more monster-y mischief is unleashed.
But why? What’s with all the mischief and chaos at eve of Cross Quarter? Such observance belongs to the sacred art of engaging with the Being of the Year, and knowing when it is time to release and purge, and when it is time to make holy, when to wake and when to sleep, when to breathe in and when to breathe out ~ to everything there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3
Here is a blast from the past regarding the very thing from my first series of radio segments with Interlochen Public Radio, Oct 2013 (I was still doin’ my dark sky park gig then : ). Follow this link.
“There is a mountain very high and bare…whereon it is given out that witches hold their dance on Walpurgis night.” ~ Jacob Grimm, 1883
“The first of May is a great popular festival in the more midland and southern parts of Sweden. On the eve of the festival, huge bonfires, which should be lighted by striking two flints together, blaze on all the hills and knolls.” ~ Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough
“Walpurgis Night was when, according to the belief of millions of people, the devil was abroad—when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things of earth and air and water held revel.” ~ Bram Stoker, “Dracula’s Guest”
For more on Walpurgis Night, head over to this site: Gothic Horror Stories
And for a fantastic description, check out Dimitri Mérejkowski’s The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci, particularly the chapter on the Witches’ Sabbath, starting at line 97.
May you know joy in the evening!
Mary
I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed. ~Mary Oliver