Folklore & Customs: May Eve, Walpurgis & Mischief Night

May Eve is sometimes called "the other Halloween". In Northern England in bygone centuries it was celebrated as Mischief Night with rowdiness and trickery. Steve Roud in The English Year quotes an 1896 book on customs as reporting:

"At Oldham, the Eve of May is known as Mischief Night when it was custom for people to play tricks on their neighbours. My informant remembers seeing a thatched house, in a village near Oldham, adorned with mops, rakes and brushes, on top of whcih were stuck mugs, tubs, and pails."

An article on Grimsby Live went further, saying it was a night for firestarting and lighthearted devil-worship:

"Around Grimsby it was the original ‘Mischief Night’, when the normal rules of society did not apply and friends would get together to play pranks, start fires or hold ‘Satanic’ rituals."

While human troublemakers were obviously a nuisance, supernatural ones such as fairies were more generally feared in the UK. They were more easily kept out, however, by placing seasonal flowers over doorways. Hawthorn blossom (pictured above) is the most widespread floral protection, but in Lincolnshire there was a tradition of hanging up cowslips (pictured right), which look a bit like primroses. 

Walpurgis Night

April 30th is also Walpurgis Night, named after Saint Walpurgis, an 8th century nun who lived in Germany and was canonised when healing oil supposedly flowed from her tomb. Sadly, she beecame more associated with protection against - and persecution of - witches. As I wrote in Rounding the Wheel of the Year:

"In parts of Europe, especially Germany but also England, it’s known as Walpurgis Night when witches were thought to gather and were historically seen as not the nice folk we are now. People would protect their homes against them."

It's a traditional time to light bonfires to ward against harmful entities. Fire customs might have originated long before the early modern era's witch burnings.* In some countries that horrible form of execution became part of seasonal celebrations. In the Czech Republic, April 30th is Pálení čarodějnic, or "Burning of the witches". Witch effigies or puppets are thrown onto large bonfires as part of public displays. 

May Eve witchcraft traditions are most famously associated with Germany's Walpurgisnacht or Hexennacht, which translates as Witches' Night. Witches were said to hold a large sabbat on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz mountains. Nowadays this has been adopted as a time of celebration by modern practitioners of the Craft, showing that the way we view folklore and customs can change with the times.

*Note: It's always worthwhile pointing out that not all countries burnt those accused of witchcraft. In England hanging was the usual execution method, but burnings did happen in places including Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland.

The Wheel of the Year

My Pagan Portals book Rounding the Wheel of the Year offers more ways to acknowledge and celebrate the seasons in ritual, magic, folklore and nature. You can view Rounding the Wheel of the Year on Amazon, find it at esoteric bookshops or via my publisher Moon Books: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/our-books/pagan-portals-rounding-wheel-year

(Please note: I earn commission from some links.)

Other previous Related Posts
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/01/rounding-year-when-snowdrops-bloom.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/02/rounding-year-daffodils-narcissus.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/04/news-beltane-walpurgisnacht-and-witch.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/04/news-walpurgisnacht-beltane-may-day.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2025/01/game-review-call-of-hill-witchcraft-larp.html