Walpurgis Night

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Martha"
<fakeplastikcynic at h...> wrote:
> One of these was Paul Klee, and the picture they were showing made
> me rather excited, since it was called "Walpurgis Night". 
>
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=8142&sear=
chid=4575
> 
> You know, like the Knights of Walpurgis?
> 
> The old name for the Death Eaters, according to the interview JKR 
> gave Jeremy Paxman just before OoP came out?

Walpurgis Night is a fairly well-known name for May Eve (the night
before May Day), as celebrated by legendary witches. The name
originally had nothing to do with witches: May 1 was St Walburga's Day
in some calendars (like the name Halloween originally had nothing to
do with witches, but it's the Eve (e'en) of All Saints (All Hallows)'
Day, another traditional Pagan holy day).

The specific Walburga appears to bave been a healer and a Muggle
(information about her is below), so I imagine that the group Knights
of Walpurgis was either named after a different Walburga or simply
after Walpurgis Night. I imagine that the Knights of Walpurgis were
founded as a violent type of "Wizard Defense League", attempting to
prevent Muggle abuse of wizards by the consistently unsuccessful means
of taking revenge (by killing a few Muggles) for each abuse of a
wizard. They may have liked the sound of 'purge' and 'pure' in
'Walpurgis'.

There are a couple of websites I use for looking up saints, or just
searching for quaint given names:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/stindex.php
http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/ss-index.htm
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/indexsnt.htm

The first of those gives:
"St. Walburga, Virgin (Feast day - February 25) Walburga was born in
Devonshire England, around 710. She was the daughter of a West Saxon
chieftain and the sister of St. Willibald and Winebald. Walburga was
educated at Wimborne Monastery in Dorset, where she became a nun. In
748, she was sent with St. Lioba to Germany to help St. Boniface in
his missionary work. She spent two years at Bishofsheim, after which
she became Abbess of the double monastery at Heidenheim founded by her
brother Winebald. At the death of Winebald, St. Walburga was appointed
Abbess of both monasteries by her brother Willibald, who was then
Bishop of Eichstadt. She remained superior of both men and women until
her death in 779. She was buried first at Heidenheim, but later her
body was interred next to that of her brother, St. Winebald, at
Eichstadt."

The second adds:
"(also known as Bugga, Gaudurge, Vaubourg, Walpurga, Walpurgis)"

and

"This English woman had the curious destiny of attaining a place in
German folklore. The night of May 1 (the date of the transfer of her
relics to Eichstätt in 870) became known as Walpurgisnacht. May 1 had
been a pagan festival marking the beginning of summer and the revels
of witches, hence the traditions of Walpurgisnacht, which have no
intrinsic connection with the saint. Nevertheless, her name became
associated with witchcraft and other superstitions (cf. Goethe's
Faust, pt. i, Walpurgis night in the Hartz mountains). It is possible,
however, that the protection of crops ascribed to her, represented by
the three ears of corn in her icons, may have been transferred to her
from Mother Earth (Walborg)."

Note: "cf Goethe's Faust, pt. i, Walpurgis night in the Hartz
mountains" is what the webpage to which you linked mentioned as
"Walpurgis night, as portrayed in the ghostly scene on the Brocken in
Goethe's 'Faust', exerted a fascination on Klee throughout his life." 

The third adds:
"Cures are ascribed to the oil that exudes from a rock on which her
relics were placed, which together with her healing skills in life
explains her patronage of plague, rabies, coughs, etc."