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Wednesday night, residents living off base must keep a watchful eye on their houses and vehicles.
They should park their cars in the garage, if they have one. Because if they leave the car outside, they might find it wrapped in toilet paper or decorated with ketchup the following morning.
They also should make sure everything sitting outdoors, which others easily can pick up, such as doormats and flower pots, get placed indoors for the night. Otherwise it might be gone or placed somewhere else the next morning.
Residents must take these precautionary measures because Wednesday night is “Hexennacht,” or Witches Night.
Weird things happen the night of April 30. It’s a custom mainly for children and teenagers to play tricks on neighbors. They ring doorbells and run off, put mustard on door handles, hide floor mats and trash cans, remove garden gates and wrap various items in toilet paper.
Sometimes, older children or adults do destructive things, like lifting drainage covers in the middle of the road or moving traffic signs. Drivers are asked to be very careful at night or the following morning because these actions create safety hazards and result in property damage. German Polizei patrol the neighborhoods and take appropriate action if necessary.
Legend says that on the night of April 30, evil ghosts represented by cold weather, snow and darkness meet with witches and demons at Blocksberg hill in the Harz mountains. They get into mischief before they take off on broomsticks, pitchforks and billy goats at midnight.
The origin of Witches Night goes back to Pagan times, when people believed that evil ghosts tried to prevent the “Queen of Spring” from entering the country. Witches and demons were masters of people and things, so people did a lot to protect themselves. They hid billy goats and broomsticks so witches would not be able to ride on them through the night and do evil things.
Also, socks were put cross-shaped on children’s beds, pentagrams were put over house entrances or sacred salt was scattered over the threshold. Residents used several herbs known to ban witches to smoke out houses and stables. Herbs included rue, St. John’s wort and juniper.
Men made a lot of noise with whips and gun shots and lit fires to scare away demons. Cattle was driven through the fire to secure its fertility for the following year and young couples jumped over the fire to make sure their love would last forever.
Witches Night is also called “Walpurgis” night. Walpurga was an English saint who worked as a missionary in Germany in the eighth century. In 761, she became the abbess of a monastery in Heidenheim, which was founded by her two brothers, Willibald and Wunibald, who were saints too.
She was known for exorcising demons from the bodies of the sick. Walpurga died in 779, and on May 1, 871, her body was transported to Eichstätt to be reburied next to her brothers.
Another German tradition to observe the beginning of May is to “dance into May.” Various associations and sports clubs sponsor “Tanz in den Mai” with live music in community halls, sports gyms, gasthauses or other facilities that house dancing halls.
In several villages of the KMC, the May tree will be put up the evening of April 30 or in the morning of May 1. Sometimes this ceremony is combined with a village fest.
The May tree usually is a fir with the lower branches stripped and only the treetop untouched. The pole is decorated with colorful ribbons and craftsmen’s trade ornaments, like sausages for the butchers, pretzels for the bakers or carved wooden figures. May poles symbolize the beginning of spring and hope for a good harvest.
Dance into May is offered in the following towns Wednesday:
• 8 p.m., Westpfalzhalle Niederkirchen
• 8 p.m., sports club, Martinshöhe, witches disco
• 8 p.m., Father’s Day rock concert, fest grounds in forest in Hauptstuhl
May tree fests with putting up of May tree in the KMC will be:
Wednesday
Witches night fest with putting up of May tree, 6 p.m. on Drehenthalerhof (district of Otterberg); May tree fest on village square in Oberarnbach; May tree fest, 6 p.m. near Mehrzweckhalle in Krickenbach; putting up of May tree at 6 p.m. in Otterbach, Red Cross building (end of Otterbach toward Sambach); May fest at 6 p.m. in Pfalzwaldhalle Mehlbach; putting up of May tree, 6 p.m. in Stelzenberg near Lindenbrunnen (fountain)
Thursday
May fest in school yard in Niederkirchen; putting up of May tree at 9 a.m. near Nanstein Castle in Landstuhl; May tree fest near fire station in Frankelbach; May tree fest on village square in Hirschhorn; May fest in Mehrzweckhaus in Erzenhausen; May carnival fest, 10:30 a.m. near Mehrzweckhalle in Krickenbach.
