Walpurgis Night

I came across a reference to "Walpurgisnicht" in a mystery I was reading; previously I'd seen it as "Walpurgis Night," and it occurred to me I didn't know what it was all about. So Jonathan and I looked it up on Wiki and in the dictionary of saints we picked up in Scotland.

St. Walburga/Walpurga was an English nun, the niece of St. Winnibald, in the eighth century. She went with him as a missionary to Germany - hence the "nicht" version. She was trained in medicine and wrote a vita of another saint, and when Winnibald died, she took over rule of his monastery. Her relics were moved to Eisenstatt and caused a well of miraculous healing oil to flow from a rock. She apparently died on May Day, so that became her feast day.

Walpurgis Night is known as the time when witches fly to their creepy rendezvous. Apparently there's no particular connection to St. Walpurga except that May Day was a previous pagan feast day: it's not like she was known for fighting witches, or anything. The saints dictionary speculated that one of her symbols, the three ears of grain, might be a transferral of the pagan fertility stuff, but her more usual symbol is a flask of oil.

So now we know. Interesting.