What Story Began with a Dark and Stormy
Knight?
J. K. ROWLING’S PREPARATION FOR WRITING Harry’s
adventures included creating a history for the Death Eaters, which
she says were originally known as the Knights of Walpurgis. The
name is a pun, a reversal of “Walpurgis Night,” the name of an old
witches’ holiday celebrating springtime. Walpurgis Night was the
night of April 30 (by our modern calendar), the eve of the May Day
festival. That date is exactly six months from Hallowe’en, and the
two holidays were related in theme. One ushered in the growing
season, one marked its passing. On Walpurgis Night as on
Hallowe’en, witches and demons supposedly ran wild.
The holiday was celebrated throughout northern
Europe and in Britain under various names. “Walpurgis Night” is a
translation of the German name. It refers to St. Walpurgis (also
“Walburga”), a nun who helped introduce
These 1545 woodcuts claim to show a witch and
wizards riding to a gathering.
Walpurgis was actually a Briton, from Devonshire,
Wessex. She was the daughter of a Saxon king and the niece of St.
Boniface, the Apostle of Germany. Because of her intelligence and
skill, the mixed monastery at Heidenheim, Germany, where she was
abbess, was highly influential.
Christianity to Germany in the 700s. (The holiday
came to have her name by chance. The day chosen to honor her
coincided with the traditional spring festival. Walpurgis herself
had nothing to do with witchcraft.)
The center of the German celebration was a
famous mountain called the Brocken in northern Germany. Witches and
demons were said to gather there. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s
classic work Faust, about a man who sells
his soul to the devil, includes a Walpurgis Night scene on the
Brocken. Many magical creatures including griffins, sirens, and
phoenixes join the devil, who announces,
I’m like a tom-cat in a thievish vein,
That up fire-ladders tall and steep,
And round the walls doth slyly creep;
... Thus through my limbs already burns
The glorious Walpurgis night!
After to-morrow it returns.
It’s easy to see how the rogue witches on the Brocken might make someone think of the Death Eaters. Perhaps that also explains why Rowling placed Durmstrang, which is sympathetic to Voldemort, not far away.
“BURNING OUT THE
WITCHES” Fear of Walpurgis Night created its own rituals. One
historian describes how people rid themselves of witches after that
hellish night:
On the last three days of April all the houses are cleansed and fumigated with juniper berries and rue. On May Day, when the evening bell has rung and the twilight is falling, the ceremony of “Burning Out the Witches” begins. Men and boys make a racket with whips, bells, pots, and pans; the women carry censers [incense holders]; the dogs are unchained and run barking and yelping about. As soon as the church bells begin to ring, the bundles of twigs, fastened on poles, are set on fire and the incense is ignited. Then all the house-bells and dinner-bells are rung, pots and pans are clashed, dogs bark, every one must make a noise. And amid this hubbub all scream at the pitch of their voices: “Witch flee, flee from here, or it will go ill with thee.” Then they run seven times round the houses, the yards, and the village. So the witches are smoked out of their lurking-places and driven away.
On the last three days of April all the houses are cleansed and fumigated with juniper berries and rue. On May Day, when the evening bell has rung and the twilight is falling, the ceremony of “Burning Out the Witches” begins. Men and boys make a racket with whips, bells, pots, and pans; the women carry censers [incense holders]; the dogs are unchained and run barking and yelping about. As soon as the church bells begin to ring, the bundles of twigs, fastened on poles, are set on fire and the incense is ignited. Then all the house-bells and dinner-bells are rung, pots and pans are clashed, dogs bark, every one must make a noise. And amid this hubbub all scream at the pitch of their voices: “Witch flee, flee from here, or it will go ill with thee.” Then they run seven times round the houses, the yards, and the village. So the witches are smoked out of their lurking-places and driven away.
Some northern European countries still celebrate
Walpurgis Night, though without the worry about witches.
See Dark Mark Umbridge,
Dolores
That description might be funny if it were a
scene about Muggles in a Harry Potter book, but as an account of
real life it sounds ridiculous. On the other hand, consider this:
In Britain, where the festival was known as Beltane, there is
evidence that the celebrations included sacrifices of animals and
even humans. The Death Eaters would have liked that.