WINTER IS OVER

WALPURGIS EVE

APRIL 30TH

Throughout winter we all tend to pack on things, from wight to objects, from house project to weeds in the gardening.  In Sweden we celebrate the coming of spring by throwing all the junk we have acquired throughout the winter on to community wide bon fires all over the country and melt away the long winter. 

The current festival is, in most countries that celebrate it, named after the English missionary Saint Walpurga. As Walpurga was canonized on 1 May, she became associated with May Day, especially in the Finnish and Swedish calendars. The eve of May Day, traditionally celebrated with dancing, came to be known as Walpurgisnacht ("Walpurga's night"). Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish, and Vappu in Finnish.

Bonfires and singingFor students, Walpurgis Eve is freedom. On the last day of April, the students sport their characteristic white caps and sing songs of welcome to spring, to the budding greenery and to a brighter future. Choral singing is a popular pastime in Sweden, and on Walpurgis Eve virtually every choir in the country is busy. In every village and neighbourhood, bonfires are lit at dusk, and everyone has experienced that rosy red glow in your face from the heat of the fire and the freezing cold at your back. The spring sun may keep you warm, but when it sets the nights are still chilly.

A dish to warm you up at a time like this is nettle soup. Nettles are, of course, a weed. They quickly appear when the snow melts, contain large amounts of iron and are best when young and fresh. 

Party or May Day demonstration?

Walpurgis celebrations are not a family occasion but rather a public event, and local groups often take responsibility for organizing them to encourage community spirit in the village or neighborhood. 
Once the fire dies, many people move on to pubs and restaurants or to friends’ parties. The fact that Walpurgis Eve is followed by 1 May — a public holiday in Sweden since 1939 — means that people are not afraid of partying into the night. 
Those who wish to can sleep throughout the following day(thats what i did), while others mark this traditional workers’ day of leave by joining one or other of the May Day demonstrations that parade through the streets of their town or village, beneath banners carrying slogans of a classical or more topical nature.