Re: Valborgsaften/Walpurgisnight


"Alan Crozier" <name1.name2@xxxxxxxxx> skrev i meddelandet
news:ZN%4g.54975$d5.209358@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Grethe" <grethe.ladyhawk@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4454801e$0$27572$edfadb0f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The legend.
Walpurgisnight is one of the nights, where witches
according to Danish protocols and legends went
to Troms Church in Norway. The image of the
witches' travels to the North was alive among people
up to present time, and Troms had a central place in
the legends. 'At ride eller fare til Troms' (To ride or
race to Troms) was a common way of speech in
Denmark, especially in Jutland.
The witches rode on fast flying cats, and in the old
days people kept their cats indoors before that night.
It was told that a cat was found dead in the morning
after Walpurgisnight wearing a bridle.
In Troms Church the witches had a good time playing
games, dancing, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves
with the Devil.

Maybe this type of folk tales can be traced back to
a papal letter from Clemens V in February 1308. Here
is referred to a church in Troms, consecrated to Virgin
Mary and situated on the utmost border by the heathens
('sancte Marie de Trinis; iuxta paganos').
A Scot folklorist and painter, John Francis Campbell
(1822-1885) wrote: 'Tromsoe was supposed in the
olden time to be the headquarters of the Northern witches'.

The witch trials.
Near Horsens in Eastern Jutland is a place Bjerrelide
with a hill , Purhoej . This was once a thingstead ,
where 'bystævnet' (the city council) once a year held
a meeting, in which they chose an 'oldermand' (master
of guild), but it was also a place,where the witches
gathered on Walpurgisnight. In one of many witch-trials
from 1600s' Denmark, a couple of the accused women
admitted that they were upon this hill on Walpurgisnight
together with hundreds of trolls and witches, and they
were all carried to the hill by she-devils.
In 1623 Kirsten Ibsdatter was sentenced a witch and
burnt at the stake in Jutland. From her confession is
read that she often used to travel with the other witches
to Troms Kirke. Kirsten told that she had her own
demon to divert herself with there. The demon was
named Plett (Spot), and as a sign of his pact with
Kirsten he put his mark upon her stomach. She told
that when all the witches arrived to Troms, the Devil
himself was preaching, but he spoke Latin and German,
and they didn't understand a word of it. Kirsten had
passed on the witchcraft to her son, who often travelled
together with the witches to Troms as their servant boy.

How they made those poor women confess to
witchcraft is quite another story.

The bonfires.
Walpurgisnight was a socalled wake night. The bonfires
were lit on the hills to keep people awake in order
to avoid them from being taken by surprise by the
underground people. Up to the middle of the 1900s
Walpurgisnight was still celebrated with bonfires and
fun and merriment in Denmark, especially in Easter
Jutland, but the tradition has almost vanished, and our
bonfires are now concentrated on Midsummer's Eve,
June 23. (Sankt Hans Aften).

But Sweden keeps the bonfire on May Eve.

In fact , I'm just about to drive a trailer full of leaves to add to this
evening's bonfire.
It's a great way to get rid of garden waste, books by degenerate authors,
clapped-out
microwave ovens, car batteries etc...

And for the young it's a great night for illicit spirits, fights, gang
rapes, and other
venerated Nordic traditions.

So, Happy Walpurgis Night, or Glada Vappen, as they say in Finland!

Alan

To be added to this is that the Trondheim tradition mentioned by Grete is a
relatively late tradition. The old tradition in Scandinavia was a place
called 'Blåkulla'. Now where that was located there were many opinions on.
Here in Sweden we some times placed it on the island Blå Jungfrun 'Blue
Virgin' close to Kalmar.
But in reality it was thought to be away from where you were on a place
where the Devil and his gang were.

Inger E

--
Alan Crozier
Lund
Sweden




.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Valborgsaften/Walpurgisnight
    ... Walpurgisnight is one of the nights, where witches ... to Troms Church in Norway. ... In Troms Church the witches had a good time playing ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Valborgsaften/Walpurgisnight
    ... Walpurgisnight is one of the nights, where witches ... to Troms Church in Norway. ... The Sun Carriage, do you know ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Valborgsaften/Walpurgisnight
    ... Walpurgisnight is one of the nights, where witches ... to Troms Church in Norway. ... The bonfires. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Valborgsaften/Walpurgisnight
    ... Walpurgisnight is one of the nights, where witches ... to Troms Church in Norway. ... The bonfires. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Valborgsaften/Walpurgisnight
    ... Walpurgisnight is one of the nights, where witches ... to Troms Church in Norway. ... The bonfires. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)