The Bewitching Hartz Mountains of Germany
April 30: Walpurgisnacht
The Hartz mountains of central Germany contain something that will be of interest to anyone interested in Halloween - Witches. The first thing a visitor notices when they enter into the Hartz mountains and stop in one of the towns is that there are witches everywhere - witches in store fronts, witches on newspapers, hundreds of handmade witches flying on broomsticks hanging in every shop. There are bottles of drinks with names such as Harzer Hexenritt (Hartz Witch-ride), Brocken Hexe (Brocken Witch - "after a Harz family recipe"), all with colorful pictures of witches on them. There are postcards, books of Hartz legends, stories, and history, woodcarvings, glasses, dolls, picture frames, plates - all dealing with the central issue of witches.
When one digs deeper into these traditions, by reading some of the local brochures and books, and by visiting some of the key areas, the picture becomes a little clearer. The people of the Hartz mountains preserve many colorful and old traditions for holidays around the year - which they have always celebrated. The holiday that interests us is on April 30th, known in the Hartz mountains as Walpurgis Night. This is of course, exactly 6 months after Halloween. The villagers of the Hartz mountains have announcements and posters everywhere for the locations of the Walpurgis Night festivals. There are locations at various places throughout the Hartz mountains, ranging from the Brocken mountain in the center of the Hartz mountains, to the Hexentanzplatz ("Witches Dancing Place"), in the east, in former East Germany.
Of course, the Brocken mountain, the highest mountain in the Hartz mountain range, is the mountain that was traditionally associated with witches, as their central meeting place during Walpurgis Night. However, when one looks for actual historical sites for meeting places, one finds two outstanding locations: Wurmberg Mountain, next to the town of Braunlage, the second highest mountain in the Hartz, and the Hexentanzplatz, on top of the mountains by the town of Thale, at the east end of the Hartz mountain range. In these two locations are found rings of stones and cleared areas and even "theaters" made out of stone, where hundreds of people could have meet. In fact, in Thale, hundreds, or even thousands, of people still do meet there on Walpurgis Night, coming from miles around to see concerts and theatrical presentations, and to view the huge bonfire on top of the mountain—one of many bonfires burning throughout the Hartz mountains on that night.