Witchs Night?

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Wandering through Germany's Harz Mountains, it's impossible not to realize that you have entered a domain of enchantment, a place where landscape conspires with legend to create a
Spookiness emanates from a bizarre rock formation in the Brocken forests. Sense of lurking mystery. A terrain of craggy peaks, gloomy forests, and river valleys banked by towering cliffs, the mountains remember folk beliefs dating from pre-Christian times.

Straddling the former border between East and West Germany, they are steeped in tales of witchcraft, magic, and apparitions. Stories collected in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries show that the region's mythic reputation reached beyond Germany. From France to Scandinavia, countryfolk traded fireside yarns of strange happenings on the Brockenberg (Brocken Mountain), the Harz's highest peak at 3,747 feet. Rumor had it that Europe's witches gathered there on Walpurgisnacht, May Eve.

Still legendary throughout the Harz region, Walpurgisnacht is rooted in the pagan Fruehjahrsfest, or Spring Festival. Directly opposite Allhallows Eve in the seasonal cycle, it was once widely celebrated among all Germanic peoples. Whereas North America associates witches and sorcery with Halloween, April 30 is when things get spooky in Germany. Legends tell of blue flames igniting above buried treasure, ladies flying on broomsticks, and the ghostly Wild Hunt pursuing the goddess Walpurga through snowstorms and hail. "There is a mountain very high and bare, whereon it is given out that witches hold their dance on Walpurgis Night," writes folklorist Jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology about the Brocken, sometimes shown on old maps as the Blocksberg.

Huddled below the Brocken's granite bulk, the village of Schierke attracts around six thousand Walpurgisnacht revelers. The day begins with a parade of kindergarteners dressed as witches and pitchfork-wielding devils. Festooned with witch puppets, even the railway station joins in the fun. The local steam train becomes a Hexenexpress, chugging down from the Brockenberg's summit to Wernigerode--the quintessential "fairytale" town of half-timbered houses and gothic turrets.

For other cities/villiages (like Goslar) look under:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harz

Take care

haggesitze

Sorry, but in the area I grew up in (Saarland/Southwest) Witches' Night used to be a very local event, and by its very nature it was made sure there were no outsiders.
It consisted of getting a May Tree, lighting a fire and playing silly tricks on your neighbours. The boys would plant "mays" (= green boughs) in the gardens of girls they liked, and dry sticks for the girls they did not. Everybody would guard the May Tree, as the neighbouring villages would send out guys to cut it down if they could.
All this was a long time ago, and as far as I know the custom is not as widespread as it used to be. As far as I'm aware there is no "official" celebration anywhere, but that may have changed in these times where everything gets commercialized.

t_maia2000

Witches night is the official opening for the Â´summer tourist season in the Harz mountains, so locals organise special events around it. Unfortunately information in English is hard to find, as the large majority of these events are marketed only locally to residents and Germans in the nearby bigger cities.

Best do a trip to the Harz mountains for a week centered around this day, and then figure things out once you are there.

I can highly recommend a trip up the Brocken with the historical steam engine if the wheather on top is fine, a visit to Hexentanzplatz (witches dancing place)Thale, a hike along the Teufelsmauer (devils wall) in Blankenburg, the caves in Ruebenland, Wernigerode Castle, and the ultimate highlight: Quedlinburg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harzer_Schmalspurbahnen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quedlinburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernigerode
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Wernigerode
http://www.blankenburg.de/pages/english/envi/ortet.html
http://www.blankenburg.de/pages/english/envi/orter.html
http://www.blankenburg.de/pages/english/tour/eteufel.html
http://www.blankenburg.de/pages/english/tour/eregen.html

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