*Ø* Blogmanac April 30 | Witching night

Walpurgis night, Finland, Sweden and Germany

The wheel of the year has rolled a little further through the seasons and now we find ourselves at one of those eight stations of the year at which the veil between the mundane and spirit worlds is a little thinner.

The four main stations ('grand sabbats' in the Neopagan tradition) are the two equinoxes and two solstices.

Halfway between each of these are the other significant days, the lesser sabbats, together making this list:

Midwinter/Yule (Christmas), on the Winter Solstice
Imbolc, on February 2 and the preceding eve
Ostara, on the Spring Equinox
Beltane/Beltaine/May Day on May 1 and the preceding eve
Midsummer/Litha, on the Summer Solstice
Lughnasadh (Lammas), on August 1 and the preceding eve
Mabon, on the Autumn Equinox
Samhain (Halloween), on the eve of October 31

We are now on the cusp of the (Northern Hemisphere's) halfway station between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, known as Beltaine. Watch out, spirits are about! – the wheel shows that it is directly opposite Samhain (Halloween); that is, six months from that other witching night.

Tonight's mischief is celebrated in the Harz Mountains of Germany, as well as in Finland and the Scandinavian countries. It is called Valborgsmassoafton in Swedish, Vappu in Finnish, Walpurgisnacht in German. On the eve of May Day, the Devil and the company of hexen, or witches, were once believed to hold revels on high places, especially Mount Brocken in the Harz range. In 1990 women's groups reclaimed the site ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.