A few years back I came across a video on YouTube of a group of witches dancing to a German song called ‘shake your bacon’. (
Check it out here) The costumes and makeup were remarkable. After further investigation I discovered this gathering is an annual event for Walpurgis Night. These particular witches (hexen in German) are from Wolfshagan Im Harz, a small village within the Harz mountains just south of Hannover, Germany. Harz mountains is where this all started. This year, they put on quite an extraordinary show and except for the crowd (2,000 people this year), it was brilliant to see in person.
They arrive via motorcycles, do synchronized dancing, dance with the devil and have a magnificent bonfire all in these spectacular costumes. It’s all very paganistic and took place under a full moon this year. The town & event have become very popular over the past few years mainly due to that YouTube video.
The entire town embraces their hexen history with stuffed witches on almost every front yard, porch and hanging from trees. The street lights even have wooden witches on them. Like our Halloween of getting dress up, little girls dress as hexen and boys the devil. There are NO OTHER costumes, not for this tradition. At least for one night a year (maybe more, who knows….) housewives become hexen and dance with the devil.
A few years back I came across a video on YouTube of a group of witches dancing to a German song called ‘shake your bacon’. (Check it out here) The costumes and makeup were remarkable. After further investigation I discovered this gathering is an annual event for Walpurgis Night. These particular witches (hexen in German) are from Wolfshagan Im Harz, a small village within the Harz mountains just south of Hannover, Germany. Harz mountains is where this all started. This year, they put on quite an extraordinary show and except for the crowd (2,000 people this year), it was brilliant to see in person.
The entire town embraces their hexen history with stuffed witches on almost every front yard, porch and hanging from trees. The street lights even have wooden witches on them. Like our Halloween of getting dress up, little girls dress as hexen and boys the devil. There are NO OTHER costumes, not for this tradition. At least for one night a year (maybe more, who knows….) housewives become hexen and dance with the devil. 
I love how they go all out with this! What a cool event.
ReplyDeleteSo great!
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