The German poet Johann Goethe’s iconic saga “Faust” contains a scene in which the hero is transported by the devil to the Brockenberg on Walpurgisnacht, the night of April 30th. Faust is to join the Bacchanalia of the evil and demonic powers that occurs when the witches meet in celebration with the devil.
At this festival, Mephistopheles draws Faust from the plane of love to the sexual plane, to distract him from Gretchen’s fate. Mephistopheles is costumed here as a Junker and with cloven hooves. Mephistopheles lures Faust into the arms of a naked young witch, but he is distracted by the sight of Medusa, who appears to him in “his lov’d one’s image”: a “lone child, pale and fair”, resembling “sweet Gretchen”.
The Faust legend is still used as a resource in many German language schools, but has become more of an academic treatise in most other countries of the world.
In 1932, as a part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Goethe’s birth, a “scientific” experiment was carried out on Brocken’s peak according to the terms of the Bloksberg Tryst, referred to in the “High German Black Book”, -a hand-written volume of magical formulæ that dates from about the fifteenth century, and contains much ritual for the practice of transcendental magic.
It is reported that the physical requirements for the Tryst included: a magic circle with the usual symbols, a triangle, a pine fire, a bowl of incense, a ‘pure virgin’, a ‘he-goat’, Latin incantations, and a noisome unguent made of bats’ blood, scrapings from church bells, soot and honey.
In the event, the experiment did not result in the goat being transformed magically into “a faire youth of surpassing beauty”. However, widespread reportage of the experiment certainly did not harm this region’s ability to further promote itself as a place of witchcraft and long held traditions.
Submitted by John Kumm www.onlinetravelconsultant.com
Naturally, local tourist authorities do their utmost to evoke this sense of otherworldliness as a way or encouraging visitors to the region. In the days leading up to Walpurgisnacht there is a brisk trade in Harzhexen, souvenir representations of witches riding broomsticks. Postcards, beer steins, and wooden carvings also celebrate the season of the witch.