The
night before
May Day.
Saint Walburga's
holy day is celebrated on
May 1. But the night before --
April 30, or
Beltane -- is sometimes called
Walpurgis Night. According to
German legend,
Walpurgisnacht has been associated with the
witches'
sabbath, and on this night, it was believed that witches met with the
devil. Walpurgis Night is exactly
six months away from
Halloween, and the two serve similar
purposes in the
pagan calendar -- it's a chance for
evil,
demons, and the
unquiet dead to kick up their heels and have a bit of fun.
George Washington was inaugurated as the first
President of the United States on Walpurgis Night, 1789;
Thomas Jefferson made the
Louisiana Purchase on Walpurgisnacht, 1803;
Billy the Kid escaped from a
jail in
Mesilla, New Mexico on Walpurgis Night, 1881;
Casey Jones died in a
train wreck on April 30, 1900; the first American
commercial television broadcast occurred at the
New York World's Fair on Walpurgis Night, 1939;
Adolf Hitler killed himself on Walpurgisnacht, 1945;
Richard Nixon ordered the "
Saturday Night Massacre" on April 30, 1973; the U.S. evacuated
Saigon on Walpurgis Night, 1975; Big Ben stopped for almost an hour at 12:11 p.m. (12+11=
23) on April 30, 1997..
There is absolutely no
occultic significance in any of those events. None.
/me disappears in a puff of acrid smoke