Sweden's Walpurgis Eve

Valborg, or Walpurgis, is Sweden's annual feast of the witches. Young and old come together all over the country to celebrate around a communal bonfire. The fireworks, singing and dancing continue until the early hours of the morning.

The huge bonfires are lit all over the country to scare the witches away as they fly overhead, headed for their annual sabbath in Brocken (or "Bloksberg"), in the Harz Mountains in Germany.

This tradition is similar to other semi-pagan bonfire traditions, like Sankthans in Norway, in that a custom predating Christianity, in this case the May-day celebration of the coming of summer, has been reinterpreted according to Christian ideas. The name of the festival comes from Saint Walpurga, a German abbesss in the 8th century. The date of the festival precedes the pagan festivity of Beltane, the traditional summer fertility ritual of witches, Wiccans and pagans all over the world.

Valborg is also a national day of celebration for another, more contemporary, reason - it is the birthday of the Swedish King, and flags are raised to salute him all over the country.