Free Republic

Sweden kicks off for spring with a traditional night of songs and bonfires on April 30. Walpurgis Night, “Valborg” in Swedish, is the last day of April, spent in celebration of spring and community spirit. Dating back to the Middle Ages, it was initially the Germans who brought the festive tradition to Sweden, in honour of the 8th century German saint, Walpurgis. In medieval times, April 30 marked the end of the administrative year; local merchants and craftsmen celebrated by dancing and singing in anticipation of spring. It was also a significant day for peasants and farmers, who attended the...

The man was spotted unkempt in ragged clothing in the deep wilderness of the Harz mountains in Germany. Nightmare fuel. Hikers captured a bone-chilling photo of a mysterious naked “wolf man,” who officials believe has lived in the wild for at least 5 years, as they traveled through Germany’s Harz Mountains on Tuesday. Gina Weiss and her friend Tobi encountered the unkempt figure who sat on a rock and seemingly carried a spear in the heart of the wildness, telling German newspaper Bild that the figure “wouldn’t take his eyes (off) us.” Weiss, 31, said the chance encounter with the...

The Swedish city of Lund is to spread chicken manure in its central park in an effort to deter crowds gathering for a festival. Tens of thousands of people usually descend on southern city to celebrate Walpurgis Night, which is marked across Scandinavia. But officials want to keep people away because of the coronavirus outbreak. There is no lockdown in Sweden, where data show most people have taken to voluntary social distancing. "Lund could very well become an epicentre for the spread of the coronavirus on the last night in April," the chairman of the local council's environment committee, Gustav...