Walpurgis Night - on the eve of Beltane

The Walpurgis Night has its origins in various pre-Christian traditions that took place on the eve of May 1. One of those traditions is the Celtic Beltane party and another was the Vanadis Night (dis van de Vanen, dis = voorouder), een feest gewijd aan de Godin Freya (Vanadis is een naam van Freya). On this night, the Vikings also commemorated Odin's sacrifice, which gave him access to the secrets of the runes of wisdom. They lit fires to keep evil spirits at bay, because this was a time when the boundaries between the living and the dead were weak.

The goddess Freya

The Vanadis Night was celebrated on the night of April 30 to May 1, where fires were lit and loved ones found each other. This night was also suitable for making predictions. The goddess Freya also plays a role here. In addition to sexuality and fertility, she was also passionate about magical specialties. This made her the patron goddess of the Völvas, shamankas who sang songs in trance (galdr), uttered incantations (seidh) and predicted the fate (spá) of the attendees.

They could explain both the past and the future. These arts were mainly attributed to women. When they only possessed the art of prediction, they were also known as Spákonas. The völva was considered fjölkunnig (competent, “knowledgeable in a lot”), which means that, in addition to possessing other knowledge and skills, she was fluent in both the arts of seiðr and spá and those of galdr. The name Walpurgis comes from the Goddess Walburga and the Abbess Walburga (710 - 779 after zero), a Catholic saint used to Christianize the ancient Vanadis party. In Old High German, Walburga becomes Walpurgis.

The features of the party are fertility and the thin dividing line between life and death. In Celtic mythology and Gaelic, this is a magical time when the boundaries between normal reality and the Other World are blurring and so many wonderful things can happen. Unlike during Samhain, when the dead have access to the realm of the living, the living can now leave their world the other way around and visit the elven realm, for example.