Walpurgis

GardenStone
© GardenStone, may 1999.

 

Although de process of demonization in the medieval can't be reconstructed precisely anymore, it is highly acceptable, that representants of the christian church, in their attempts to end the heathen feasts, the fears for the supernatural of the people focused to those feasts and the accompaning habits, and presented that as demonic. The belief in the 'traffic' of the spirits of dead people and other ghosts, which was a part of several feasts, was demonized, by telling the people, evil demons were going around on those days.

The next step was, to replace the worshipped Goddes at such a feast by a christian 'saint';
therefore the original Goddes who was worshipped and honoured at Walpurgis, was replaced by the 'Holy Walpurga'.
Walpurga was a very devout abbis, who died in the year of 763.
Days that were devoted to her were the first of may, the day she was declared holy, the 25th of february, her dying day, and august 4th, the day, she departed from England to go to Rome.

The story, which was told by the christian clergy was, that the Holy Walpurga was so very devout, and cared so much for the purity of the women, that the devil was doing much efforts to destroy her holy day.

Other legends tell, that Walpurga is hunted in the may-night by evil ghosts and seeks protection and help by the people. These kind of story makes one thinking on similar legends, where no ghosts, but giants or the Wild Hunt are hunting.

The worshipping of the Goddes had an agrarian and cattle-breeding aim:
Walpurgus, whatever it might be called in ancient days, was a rite in the vegetation cyclus, where sewing, harvesting cattle breeding were the topics. Walpurgis for the sewing and getting newborn cattle. Because of that, Walpurgis wasn't celebrated in early days on a fixed date: it is simply silly to celebrate it on a day, when snow is still covering the land.


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