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In most Teutonic countries it is known as Walpurgisnacht; in Anglicised lands it's called Beltane or May Day; and in the Czech Republic it goes by the name of Carodejnice.
Most European countries celebrate the event on the eve of 30 April and continue into the wee hours of 1 May. Different countries may have different names for it but all of them celebrate the coming of spring, the greening of the land, the purging of evil forces and the youthful quickening of spring love.
Originally, the celebrations were held on a gravemound or mountain top; pagan elements included the chanting of magical spells to protect animals, the banning of all trolls from houses, processions around the village with decorated birch trees or conifers (the 'May Tree'), and of course the lighting of fires - bonfires, candles, torches - anything, in fact, that lightened the gloom and dispelled the memory of long, hard, dark winters. In the Czech republic, Carodejnice also meant it was time for peasants to clean up their properties and retire to the highest mountain top to ward off witches by the burning of old brooms - literally a spring clean.
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