Walpurgis
Why do we light bonfires and celebrate Walpurgis? The celebration of festivals and folk traditions among the people of the Nordic societies is one of Nordiska museet’s areas of expertise. Here you can find out more about Walpurgis Eve and Walpurgis celebrations, based on the museum’s collections and expertise.
What is Walpurgis Night?
Walpurgis Night, Valborgsmässoafton, is celebrated on 30 April with bonfires and student choir performances. The celebration takes place on the eve of Walpurgis Day, 1 May, which was introduced to Sweden by Germans during the Middle Ages.
Valborg, or Walpurgis, was originally a Catholic feast day connected to the German saint Walpurga. During the Middle Ages, Valborg was part of the Christian calendar, but after the Reformation in the 16th century, many saint days were removed. Over time, Valborg became a popular folk celebration instead.
The connection to 1 May also contributed to its development as a festive day, since the first of May was an important day in the farming society, marking the beginning of the summer season and the agricultural year.
Why do we light bonfires on Walpurgis Night?
Fire has long been an important symbol in rituals. In the Nordic countries, fires have traditionally been lit at Easter, Walpurgis and Midsummer. Valborg bonfires may be connected to the time when farm animals were released to pasture and protected from supernatural forces and predators through the use of fire.
In German tradition, Walpurgis Night was associated with witches’ gatherings, which is believed to have influenced the custom of lighting fires. The tradition first spread in Swedish towns and later to rural areas.
Another interpretation connects the fires to young people who, according to some sources, lit fires to challenge the church, which wanted to prohibit Valborg celebrations. Today, the bonfires mainly serve as a way of welcoming the long-awaited spring.
Valborg, students and public celebrations
In medieval Sweden, Valborg was already associated with young people and celebrations. In the former Danish regions of Skåne, Halland and Blekinge, young men and women went from farm to farm to visit farmers. When they were forbidden to use church bells to gather people, they began lighting fires to attract attention. According to some interpretations, this was the origin of the Valborg bonfires.
A medieval tradition also existed where djäknar, students of the time, organised lively processions through cathedral towns. From the mid-19th century, this developed into the student celebrations seen today in Swedish university cities.
During the late 19th century, Valborg also became associated with drinking, especially among the urban working class. Newspapers from the 1880s reported on intoxicated workers in Stockholm’s Djurgården after the celebrations. This reflected the difficult living conditions in growing industrial cities.
Today, Valborg is Sweden’s first major spring celebration. After the Second World War, the tradition grew in cities when labour and popular movement organisations began arranging bonfires in residential areas. Today, bonfires are often organised by these groups, housing associations or local communities.
What do people in Nordics celebrate, and how?
As a museum of cultural history, Nordiska museet documents everyday life and festive occasions in the Nordic region. For example, we research: What do people celebrate, and how? What do the traditions and rituals of yesterday and today look like? And what role do they play in our social life?
We have been gathering knowledge about traditions since the late 19th century
Since the late 19th century, we have been documenting and gathering knowledge about traditions and rituals in people’s everyday lives and celebrations, which represent festivals and traditions. This knowledge takes the form of artefacts, photographs, folk memories and transcribed interviews featuring examples of rituals and traditions.
We have also collected and documented this material through fieldwork (that is, documenting celebrations on site), sending out questionnaires, interviewing people and, more recently, through digital collections.
Traditions change and are dynamic
Over the 150 years that the collections have been in existence, there have been enormous social changes in Sweden and the Nordic region. Traditions and social patterns are also dynamic and change: traditions are born, transformed and evolve in line with people, the times and the media. We continuously analyse the material in the light of both contemporary processes and historical circumstances.
Many factors shape and change celebrations
In short, it can be said that celebrations today reflect a multitude of influences from past social structures, from our own time, from migration, as well as social, economic and technological change.
Festivals and festive celebrations in the Nordic region are strongly influenced by the Christian faith, changes in society and values. Further factors include folk and supernatural- beliefs, folk religion and folk values that can be traced back to Nordic peasant society.
Over the 150 years that Nordiska museet has been gathering knowledge about traditions and rituals linked to festivals and special days of the year, there have been enormous social changes in Sweden and the Nordic region. Traditions are born, transformed and evolved in tandem with time and it’s people.
Ritual?
Over the past 150 years, research perspectives and concepts have also changed. A key fundamental concept is that of ritual. This refers to the practical observance – what people do in connection with a festival, tradition, specific day, time of year or event. Such as eating semlor, hiding Easter eggs, lighting candles in cemeteries or going ‘trick-or-treating’.
Rituals often involve symbols, such as the Christmas tree, the Midsummer maypole, waffles and semlor, or, for that matter, the crisps and dip enjoyed during Friday nights for the ultimate “fredagsmys”.
Tradition?
You could say that a ritual becomes a tradition when people attach particular value to the ritual and the celebration, without these necessarily having to be particularly old or widespread.
This definition, too, reflects the perspective of academic research. However, in everyday speech, the terms ‘ritual’, ‘tradition’, ‘festival’ and ‘custom’ are often used interchangeably. When we talk about traditions here, we are generally referring to rituals that are particularly valued; Christmas celebrations are one example.
Religious festivals
Another important term is ‘festival’ (högtid), which refers to rituals that are more closely linked to religious calendars. In the Nordic countries, the Christian calendar has dominated, but other religious calendars play an important role as well.
The boundary between religious calendar rituals and secular rituals appears to be becoming increasingly blurred, reflecting the secularisation of society. Most people in Sweden celebrate religious festivals without paying attention to their religious connection.
Annual festivals and life-cycle celebrations
In addition to the church calendar, festivals have historically been shaped by the rhythm of the farming year and agriculture. These are known as annual festivals or calendar rites.
Many festivals are linked to the human life cycle, where church rites have been, and remain, of great significance.
However, as society changes, so does the significance of these rituals. Although many people are still baptised today, it is not uncommon for this to take place through non-church naming ceremonies.
Ever-changing and dynamic
One of the most important insights into rituals and traditions to emerge from research is that they change. Certain particularly transformative social changes have left a clear mark on both everyday life and on rituals and festivals.
Perhaps the most significant from a cultural-historical perspective are the role of the church, as well as urbanisation, democratisation, the welfare state and the pursuit of social justice.
Contemporary life and tradition
As the Nordic countries became increasingly urbanised, economic conditions changed. People were no longer producing goods simply to provide for themselves. The family was transformed into a unit of consumption, able to purchase all the goods marketed in connection with festive occasions.
Traditions and festivals follow people’s movements between communities. Some are upheld, others fade away, and some take on a different meaning.
