Walpurgisnacht and Why It’s Not a Pagan Holiday

A while ago I made a post in which I blatantly said that Walpurgisnacht is not a pagan alternative to easter and gave a short explanation. But what's the background behind Walpurgisnacht? Why do we associate it with European paganism and where does it originate?

Well, as you could guess from the name, Walpurgisnacht (Val-purgis na-ch-t, a contraction of the German "Sankt Walpurgisnacht, Saint Walpurga's Night/Eve) is a holiday to celebrate the Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Walpurga. Much as "missionary" would imply, reality is far less sexy than the story of her being anything but an evangelist.

Born to Richard of Wessex and Wuna of Wessex, Walpurga was the youngest and only girl of three. Both her parents, her uncle Boniface, and her brothers, Willibald and Winnibald, would all go on to be canonized as saints by the Catholic church for their roles in the Christianization of Francia (modern day Franconia and Württemberg in Germany.)  When Walpurga was 11, Richard did the pious thing and left his wife and daughter to go galavanting in Rome with his elder sons. But, seeing as neither he nor Wuna were super into the whole having a daughter thing, they entrusted the young Walpurga to the head nun of Wimborne Abbey.

Fate is a tricksy mistress however and ,en route to Rome, Richard caught a bad case of not being alive. His sons, not deterred by Richard's clocking out permanently, completed their journey to Rome. The two grew ill themselves, but they both survived. Fate not having the foresight to curtail their evangelical masquerading. Willibald would continue his pilgrimage all the way to Jerusalem and back, but Winibald's near deadification would lead him to stay in Rome and eventually remain in Italy as a monk.

Meanwhile, over in England, Walpurga was busy with typical nun-erisms and making the "force of habit" joke for 26 years as she acquired her education. Scholars disagree about when and where the force of habit joke stopped being funny. However in 737, Saint Boniface would recruit Winibald and Willibald to assist his conversion efforts in Germany. Walpurga also joined in, ostensibly because the 700s were thin on the ground vis a vis interesting things to do. Winibald arrived in Thuringia (central Germany) and was ordained therein. Meanwhile, Willibald was ordained by Boniface upon arriving in Eichstätt,Bavaria (south-eastern Germany.

Well so far so christly, but why is Walpurga famous? We're getting there. Walpurga was sent to Germany by Abbess Tetta in 748. On the way, she was said to preform miracles by prayer. Most notably she was said to pray away a storm which threatened to derail their whole mission. Divine providence not extending to women even if they are enlisted by saints. Speaking of which, her enlistment by Boniface is considered the first time a woman was called upon to act as a Catholic missionary. She also spent her time in Germany chronicling her brothers' lives and travels, making her arguably the first female author in Germany and England.  These were the sources of her fame and why she was canonized.

But this doesn't explain the Walpurgisnacht mixup. There are many theories on the matter, but I think the most plausible one is that it's a simple mixup, based on different May Day rituals. Walpurgisnacht falls on the 1st of May and the 1st of May has been a holiday for many European cultures over the years. Both Christian and Pagan.

Most famously, the first of May is the date on which Beltane, a Celtic holiday which heralds the coming of summer, is celebrated. Ancient Greece also celebrated the coming of summer on May 1st, calling it the Protomaios. The Protomaios was said to celebrate the final victory of summer over winter (boooooo) and the return of life to nature, allegorized in the resurrection of Adonis. It is theorized that in pre-Christian Germany, May Day was also raucously celebrated, and thus Christendom took the holiday and gave Walpurga an association with driving away "evil" spirits. So the holidays were mixed up, and the end result was the mishmash we see today of Walpurgisnacht