Walpurgis Night (Walpurgis Night /Walpurgisnacht) — is a traditional spring festival and the most significant of the pagan festivals dedicated to fertility.
Walpurgis Night is celebrated at night from April 30 to May 1 in most of Central and Northern Europe to commemorate the blossoming spring.
The name of Walpurgis Night is associated with the name of Saint Walpurga, a Wimburn nun who came from England to Germany in 748 with the aim of founding a monastery. She died on 25 February 777 in Heidenheim. She was extremely popular and very soon began to be venerated as a saint. In the Roman list of saints her day is — May 1st.
In the Middle Ages, there was a belief that Walpurgis Night was the night of the witch feast throughout Germany and Scandinavia. The witches mounted on brooms and flocked to mountain peaks, where they spent time in wild feasts, dancing and copulating with demons and the devil.