The goddess Walpurga, Waldburga, or Wealdburg, is an ancient goddess of fertility who was known and worshipped in Germany long before the saint. She is the original European “Queen of the May”, and possibly the sister of Eostre.
Walburga and her festival have become the victim of much confusion and in some cases, willful distortion. Part of the confusion lies in the fact that her name was later given to a Christian nun, now a saint, whose legend arose in the 8th century. Saint Walburga is now honored by Catholics on May 1, and her myth has come to subsume that of her namesake, as has happened with many Heathen gods.
The goddess Walburga, or Wealdburg, is an ancient goddess of fertility who was known and worshipped in Germany long before the saint. She is the original European “Queen of the May”, and possibly the sister of Eostre. The more arcane rites associated with her worship are conducted on the Eve of May Day, or “Witches Night”. The tamer, more festive celebration of Spring would then ensue the next morning, on May Day proper.
Her name, often spelled anomalously, has been often misinterpreted as Wæl - Burga, “Stronghold of the Slain”. A closer look at the archaic German spelling Walborg, gives a clue as to the original meaning, “Powerful-Defense”, or possibly “Grove-Mountain”. Interestingly, the former interpretation seems to provide insight into her nature and function, whereas the latter describes precisely where her followers chose to gather in old times to worship her! This being said, we will henceforward refer to the Anglo-Saxon goddess as Wealdburg, for clarity.
Folklorist EL Rochholz describes the goddess as carrying a three-cornered mirror with which she could fortell the future, as well as a spindle. These objects are imbued with deep symbolism in Germanic mythology, and hint at a connection with Wyrd, and also with other ancestral goddesses and Idesi, or matrons. The spindle is symbolic of both houshold industry and fertility, as it is used in the spinning of flax into cloth. She is also described as being a “white goddess”, crowned and shod with fire.
Regarding her feast-day, Grimm tells us:
“We know that all over Germany a grand annual excursion of witches is placed on the first night in May, i.e. on the date of the sacrificial feast and the old May-gathering of the people. On the first of May, of all days, the periodical assizes continued for many centuries to be held; on that day came the merry May-ridings, and the kindling of the sacred fire: it was one of the highest days in all heathenism. …The witches invariably resort to places where formerly justice was administered, or sacrifices were offered. …Almost all the witch-mountains were once hills of sacrifice, boundary-hills, or salt-hills.” (Grimm v. III, p. 1050-1)
German folk-lore tells that Waldborg is pursued by the Wild Hunt, and in her flight she is said to give her favor to those who shelter her. There is a tale concerning this, that that while fleeing the Wild Hunt, Wealdburg came upon a farmer and begged him to hide her in a sheaf of grain. When the Wild Hunt had passed the next morning, the Goddess was gone, but the farmer’s fields had been sprinkled with gold! To this day, the sheaf of grain remains a symbol of Wealdburg. With the coming of warm weather, Wealdburg’s power waxes, and even today in the Harz Mountains of Germany, it is customary to leave the windows of the home open during May, so the “White Queen of the May” could take refuge inside.
Of course, the goddess does have her “dark side” as well. In addition to the public festivities on May Day, it is said that sorcerors and wise-women had their own part to play in the Spring Festival, giving birth to the ominous tales of Walpurgisnacht, or Witches Night. These sorcerors would gather on hilltops in the forests of Germania, and enact fertility rites, as well as divining the future. Bonfires would lit upon the hilltops, the “Fires of May”, a tradition that persists in Germany to this day, where Walpurisnacht is considered to be a more ominous night than Halloween!
In England, another well-known phenomenon, the “May-Pole” can trace it’s roots to Heathen custom. On the first day of May, a tree would be cut down and brought into the town or village from nearby woods, and erected for circle dances that are almost certainly a fertility celebration. Although the actual origin of the Maypole is vague, the erection of the pole of May-Day can hardly be coincidence.
In Fyrnsidu today, Walburga is honored not only as a bringer of bounty, but also as a guardian of wild places, and as a powerful seeress. She is the harbinger of Spring, and her domain is the forest, and anywhere that green things grow. Symbols associated with this goddess are the spindle, sheaf, and hound.
Many heathens observe the Festival of May with fire or circle-dancing. It is customary to throw away all the old, useless junk in your home, in order to make way for the new. To the Heathens of old even “Spring Cleaning” had a spiritual aspect! Other holiday customs include the “King and Queen of the May”, a couple elected to preside over the festivities, as well as ritual bonfire-jumping and divination.
Despite the distortion caused by viewing Old World customs and beliefs through the lense of time, it can be safely said that Walborg/Walburga was a highly venerated and important goddess in the Heathen Germanic pantheon. Although much of our lore has been lost to the ages, enough remains to inspire us to seek for ourselves, through dillegent study and religious contemplation, the mysteries of Walburga, whose spirit surely moves through the world with the coming of Spring, just as it has in springtimes past.
Bookhoard and Citations
http://www.worldandi.com/specialreport/walpu/walpu.html
Season of the Witch
Walpurgisnacht in Germany’s Harz Mountains
Steenie Harvey
http://www.friggasweb.org/walburga.html
Waelburga and the Rites of May
Winifred Hodge
Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology. (J.S. Stalleybrass edition) George Bell & Sons, London, 1883.
Hoffmann-Krayer, E., and Bächtöld-Stäubli, H., eds. Handwörterbuch des Deutschen Aberglaubens. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin & Leipzig, 1929-1930.
Rochholz, E.L. Drei Gaugöttinen: Walburg, Verena und Gertrud, als deutsche Kirchenheilige. Sittenbilder aus germanischen Frauenleben. Verlag von Friedrich Fischer, Leipzig, 1870
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