A day of Witches, Workers, and Fathers.

Today is the first of May.

It is traditional in these parts to dance your way into May. Perhaps in more traditional times a Maypole was even involved. But these days, many (presumably those without young children) choose to do this at parties, or nightclubs, or on the crowded streets of the Altstadt, assisted by great quantities of alcohol to keep them jiving through to full daylight.

The Ger-Man and I honoured this tradition in our own special way. By donning pajamas and shuffling towards bed assisted by hot cups of tea. Boy, do we know how to party or what?

I think the night of the 30th April is called Walpurgisnacht (in these parts) and Freinacht (down south in Bavaria - where they talk funny).

Walpurgisnacht is named after an English girl who ran away to Germany in the eighth century to become a nun, die and become a Saint. As one does. (Can imagine it's even easier these days with the whole EU set-up). Anyway the first of May is her saint day. But earlier than that - a pagan festival to scare away Hexen (witches) and Teufel (devils) was celebrated on the night of the 30th April and somehow - post Christianity - this festival attracted the saint's name.

Whatever you wish to call it - it's basically an all-night festival of dancing & drinking to scare away evil spirits. No wonder early unions of workers wanted the next day off to recover.

This year, Labour Day, has also by some freak of the calender, aligned with Christi Himmelfahrt. Which literally translates as Christ-Heaven-Drive. (Or what we from Antipodean lands would call Ascension Day - if we weren't mostly such a mob of heathens.) It is usually also a public holiday. The workers have been ripped off this year!

During the middle-ages it became fashionable here in Germany to have a religious procession on Ascension day, honouring "Gott, den Vater". This very quickly turned into a day to honour all fathers and by the 1700's Father's day was well and truly a tradition. (So it would seem the Caspi-Man and I cannot ever invoke the "imported American commercialism" clause).

So there you have it. The 1st of May. A day of Witches, Workers, and Fathers.

Happy Father's Day, Ger-Man!

love,

the Caspi-Man