Walpurgis Night in Sweden

I just celebrated my 3rd annual Walpurgis Night in Sweden.

By this time you'd have thought I would have known all the words to all the traditional tunes, but still I was struggling. Rescue came when someone thrust a song sheet into my hand, but even with the words in front of my eyes, by that time I was struggling with the melody. Well, there's always next year.

Choral singing really let's rip on this night throughout Sweden. It's actually Walbura's Eve (Valborgsmässoafton) when we celebrate, the night of the 30th April. The feast of St Walburga comes on 1st May.

We are marking the end of winter and beginning of Spring. Another good excuse for a party. Spring has been with us a while by this time, at least in the south of Sweden, but some parts in the north are only just bidding farewell to the frosts.

On the evening before May Day it's traditional that we gather around a huge bonfire. Rarely in one's own backyard, this celebration is a well-organized social event for the whole community. Hundreds or thousands of people will attend, depending on where you live.

The Swedish custom originates from the Walpurgis fires of north Germany.Walpurgis - the driving away the witches. Years ago, most german immigrants usually came into the Stockholm area, so the custom grew from there to the rest of the country.

Some say we celebrate with fire to commemorate past times when we would drive the witches away who used to gather to worship the devil. Others say the fires simply scared off predators before the cattle and sheep were put out to pasture for the season.

Either way, legend has it that if the fire flames in a northerly direction, we're in for a cold spring. A southerly direction means we're guaranteed a warm spring. And we sure need it after a long scandinavian winter.

The music is live and happy, and brass bands are always included. Everyone seems to know all the songs and melodies (except yours truely)and heartily joins in. The choral effect is tremendous, and done by firelight the whole affect is pretty dazzling.