April 30th

On this day... Walpurgis Night celebrated throughout Europe. Behind that galumphing title (makes me think of walrus purging) lies a fascinating muddle of Christian and pagan festivities. Catholics mark it as the feast of St. Walburga, a German nun who lived in the 700s; others associate it with the Wiccan feast of Beltane and other fertility celebrations. According to Wikipedia, it's main mascot is the witch. It's sort of like a friendly, springtime Halloween. I personally would recommend splitting up Halloween celebrations: The night of April 30th will be for the warm, fuzzy aspects of the holiday (little kids in puppy costumes, candy), while October 31st is reserved for horror movie marathons, high school keggers, and all other forces of darkness. How much cuter would it be to see children in fanciful outfits gorging themselves against a background of butterflies and spring vegetation? Not to mention how much warmer for those who have to accompany said cute children from house to house? The lengthened days would provide more safety for the trick-or-treaters; adults wouldn't have to worry about scheduling their plans and those of their kids into the same night, because the grown-up parties would be in the fall. It's genius, I tell you. (Why does no one listen?)
The internet is a fickle temptress - I get online looking for good blog links, but end up spending an hour on crap ghost photos. It's so frustrating - Everyone who's ever had dust on their camera lens sends it in to these websites, assuming that they've got orbs. Silly, silly.