Calan Mai, celebrated on the 1st of May, is a festival that has heralded the start of summer for many hundreds of years in Wales, with its origins dated to be even more ancient.

The day is celebrated with merriment, music and one of the most honored and traditional of all European folk dances, the raising of the maypole.

Flight of Witches

The Witch has many common symbols but possibly the most famous is their magic broom which they ride through the air! This was not always the case, it is a perversion of several elements of Church folklore around the Witch Cults of Europe.

Based on ancient customs such as The Night Battles which tells of a form of catalepsy where the soul is cast or called from the body and goes to travel or fight alongside ones god or fellow witches.This spirit form often flew about shapechanged into an animal and participated in aerial combat. In older depictions the Witch would fly atop an animal familiar such as a bear, goat or giant cock.

For most this was a natural trait there was another type however, one chemically induced via ointments supposedly applied to objects such as tubs, oven scrapers, and brooms.

Though this was rare and highly dangerous, as the ointment contained almost all toxic (aconite, etc) ingredients and was not guaranteed to work.-TLK

Hyperborean Radio (Uncensored)

In German folklore, Walpurgisnacht is the night when witches meet on the Brocken mountain.
It is also a celebration of the arrival of spring.
Happy Walpurgisnacht!