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| Aspens - Populus tremuloides - flowering just in time for the celebration of Spring! |
A new to me date of observance/celebration: Walpurgis Night / Saint Walpurga's Eve / Valpurgi (Latvian) /Walpurgisnacht (German), and various local names through Central /Northern Europe (closely related also to British Beltane). Celebrated by many on the eve of April 30, as a lead-in to May Day / first day of spring (celebrations often include that day), the occasion has an interestingly complicated history and practise.
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| A beautiful blustery day with sun, clouds and wind for the eve of spring! |
Saint Walburga /Walpurga /Walpurgis (tangent: In earlier days-- and still to a greater in extent in some languages other than English- the custom was not to keep a name in the spelling of its original language, but rather to adapt spelling to the local language; look, for example at the capitals of various European cities-- each language has their own version of the names for other countries' cities!) was a nun, born in Britain, sent to serve in the Germanic States (tangent: Germany as we know it, came to be much later). Services to the Church rendered over her lifetime included conversion of locals to Christianity, and establishing the monsastery she eventually presided over as a centre of education and culture, and she was considered a force against evil witchcraft. On her death, an oil began to exude from her tomb, which was associated with miraculous cures.
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| Aspens in Flower for the Beginning of Spring |
When she was canonised (made a saint),Walpurga's feast day was set as May 01, which, ironically led to a convergence with lingering pagan May Day practises. The end result is a strange and evolving patchwork over time and place-- from bonfires (lit in some places to protect livestock newly turned out for summer) including symbolic burning of witches, to a whole range of spring and fertility customs (kissing under cherry blossoms to ensure lasting love), drinking (shocker) and carnival like activities. It seems to be popular on some university campuses...
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| Balsam Poplars Opening their Bright Red Catkins, in Celebration of Spring! |
Coming exactly a half year after All Hallows Eve / Halloween / Samhain, this date is considered by some to be another time when the veil or separation between the worlds of living and dead are thinnest, and so it was said witches would gather in sacred wild places (hills or mountains, groves) and dance on this night. This belief was surely always looked at differently by those who maintained the pre-Christian traditions. Remember witches were the wise-women, keepers of ancient knowledge, descendants of Goddess culture with its emphasis on the power and mystery of nature and the sacred feminine. All of this (along with the later but still pre-Christian pagan pantheistic culture) was a direct threat to the Christian Church which was not satisfied with anything less than total dominance of minds/hearts, politics and economy. So, witches and their ties to the Old Ways, were vilified. Nature spirits became demons and devils.
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| Balsam Poplars Opening their Bright Red Catkins, in Celebration of Spring! |
In more recent times, many people have come to recognise the value in those old ways that place humans *in* rather than *above* nature. Pre-Christian (some day I'll write about why I sometimes hesitate to use the word pagan for all such things) calendars with their emphasis on sun cycles, the turning of the seasons and rhythms of the natural world have found new devotees disillusioned with modern celebrations centred around greed and commercialism and/or associated with religious bodies short on credibility. (Maybe more about this some day, but I grew up within a Christian tradition, a loving and spiritual one, but those examples seem overwhelmed by the bleak history of the Church and often hateful examples of prejudice and xenophobia so often associated with religion these days). So the feared witches dancing in the woods become something to celebrate as more people happily call themselves witches or feel and appreciation for the forces of nature.(Okay, I'm sure there are many caught up in romantic ideas of witches in popular media, but those can still be positive examples..).
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| Willows: In Full Flowering-- Ancient Symbol of Spring! |
For me, this seemed a good time for observances, since the earlier 'spring' occasions, around the Spring Equinox, are a bit early for a real sense of spring in my northern climate-- the end of April / beginning of May is more the time when things are actually beginning to wake up and grow, here. Snow is mostly gone, days are mostly staying warmer, trees are budding, birds are returning, the hares are turning brown, the frogs are singing up a storm in the wetlands.
The elements of greater connection to the spirit world are not a sign of evil, for me, but a reminder that there is more to existence than the simple things we see with our 5 senses. There are other layers to being; whether that is a Spirit World, Goddesses, Gods, Fairies etc, or simply a way of expanding our mind's capacity to connect to every thing around us (with symbolic manifstations of those other physical lives and objects)-- to me is not really an important question. Whether a spiritual connection, for example, to trees, is an actual or imagined thing, the result is the same: if we can gain an empathy for all that exists, the effects on our mood and health, our treatment of things and people outside ourselves, our whole way of being in the world, can only be improved.
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| Chickadee, Spirit of the Northern Forest, Greets me on Walpurgis Eve |
I don't consider myself a witch-- I think there are specific practises that I don't have the ambition for-- but I like the idea of worshippers of Nature dancing in sacred wild places, celebrating the coming of Sun, Spring, growth and renewal for a new season. I read that the effigies of witches burnt during Walpurgis celebrations are always that of the Hag, the old withered woman, and a puff of smoke when the witch burns suggests the witch has flown away and people cheer. To the modern reader, this represents the typical face of the evil witch and also looks like the terrible fearful time of the burning of suspected witches. To me, however, this suggests another ancient echo: the Triple Goddess. Maiden / Mother / Crone or Hag these three stages of femininity have obvious symbolism relating to the cycles of the moon, and the broader natural world. In this case, the end of winter, the Hag, is symbolised by burning the old, allowing the new, fresh, the Maiden to 'spring' forth again.
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| Pussy Willow grown from Florist's Branches, Salix acutifolia |
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| Bee on Pussy Willow Grown from Florist's Branches |
I like the idea of creating some personal practises around this and other seasonal observances, but current work schedules and energy levels are leaving my actual activities a bit simpler-- I did a little garden refreshing work outside in the afternoon of April 30 (cutting up last year's materials, dropping it back on the soil to nourish it, and allowing the new shoots to reach the light) and spent a little time photographing. It was a fine and blustery day (not a contradiction!) with a mix of sun and clouds and some passing near-thunderstorms, with serious wind but literally only a few drops of rain. Skies were interesting, but I was also able to enjoy and photograph the flowering of our early trees-- poplars and willows. Aspen catkins were well along, even done in some cases, Balsam Poplar catkins just emerging, and at a glorious lipstick red compact stage I'm not sure I've captured before.. I didn't have time to get out into the wetlands to capture the range of willows, but got some views of the florist's willow (Salix acutifolia) my mom planted in the yard, and several native ones along the roadside and road allowance not far from where I was photographing the poplars.
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| Buffaloberry, Shepherdia canadensis, the earliest flowering native shrub-- herald of Northern Spring |
Spring rolls along (just a few weeks ago, everything was still white! and there are still bits of snow in shady places where there was drifting, or shovelled snow), with flowers in the garden, and wild flowers shouldn't be far behind. I traditionally go hunting for the first wildflowers for Mothers' Day, not sure if I'll have a chance this weekend- and spring melt was slow this year, more like a typical spring than the early melt we've become used to in recent years.. I might have better luck finding wildflowers for the memory of Mother's birthday, closer to mid month.
I'm not sure Saint Walpurga would approve, but I celebrate the cycle of the seasons and nature's magic-- no witches dancing in the woods here (that I know of!) but I danced a little indoors that night (no video, you're welcome ;) ). I hope all had a Happy Walpurgis Eve, Blessed Beltane, Beautiful May Day. Surely spring is coming to all those in the North, may it bring beauty and bounty to you, I hope you've been able to take a little time to appreciate the symbolism of the season, the power of regeneration and the sacred feminine ( I wonder if it is a coincidence that Mother's Day follows hard on the heels of May Day?).
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| Spring Arrives in the Boreal Mixed Woods.. all the more precious for its rather late and initially slow appearance! |
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