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I'm full blooded German and live in a misty mountain range myself. You crazy non 'muricans and your sick awesome pagan folklore. Here's some linkys with some interesting stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken_spectre
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/sweden/travel-tips-and-articles/52160
Seems pretty cool right? I just wanted to start a thread about this because it seems something cool to discuss.
I can't find anything on specific myths associated with the celebration so maybe some of our Nordic/Germanic friends can regale us.
My favorite scene from Faust happens here.
BTW if you figured out what caused the superstitions of the area good on ya.

I was hoping this woul be about Madoka Magica

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I was hoping this woul be about Madoka Magica

Of course you did........
I lost a little bit of my massive faith in humanity.
I don't take offense against you personally ofcourse.

It's a very interesting festival, I would love to experience it once in my lifetime.

Also, are you a German Ex-pat? or does your family hail from the fatherland?

 Alfndrate wrote:
It's a very interesting festival, I would love to experience it once in my lifetime.

Also, are you a German Ex-pat? or does your family hail from the fatherland?

Straight from the fatherland. Been in the land of the good ole "stars and stripes" for going on 150 years.
Back on topic
Does anyone have any specific myths from the Brocken. We'd all love to hear it.
What caused the superstition were the

So if your family have been in the US for 150 years you aren't exactly german are you...

 Corpsesarefun wrote:
So if your family have been in the US for 150 years you aren't exactly german are you...

No, but he's not an ex-pat which means he's not German born and now a US citizen. The comment he made about his family having been in the US for 150 years is a thing Americans do. We are a giant mixing pot (gak doesn't really melt well here) and so we all like to say where our families came from. We're all Americans, but were Irish-Americans, German-Americans, African-Americans, etc... It's just a thing we do. Like while I'm a US citizen, my heritage and nationalit(ies) are Irish, German, French and Welsh. Those are the countries my family came from 100 years ago or so.

Canada's similar, but not quite as big on that.

If your family has been in the US for 150 years then it's very unlikely that you're a "full blooded german" unless your ancestors all chose to only take german partners...

Now, now, Corpses you know Amurikans like to be something else to make them different from each other - which makes them strangely similar when you think about it?.

It's why there are more Irish I the States than there are in Ireland.

Happy spring festival OP, you are preparing early which should mean you are well stocked on beer!

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Corpsesarefun wrote:
So if your family have been in the US for 150 years you aren't exactly german are you...

No, but he's not an ex-pat which means he's not German born and now a US citizen. The comment he made about his family having been in the US for 150 years is a thing Americans do. We are a giant mixing pot (gak doesn't really melt well here) and so we all like to say where our families came from. We're all Americans, but were Irish-Americans, German-Americans, African-Americans, etc... It's just a thing we do. Like while I'm a US citizen, my heritage and nationalit(ies) are Irish, German, French and Welsh. Those are the countries my family came from 100 years ago or so.

I'm more German then that kind of German... this saddens me.

Also, it's not your nationality unless it's on your ID/passport. I'm pretty sure you don't have 5 of them.

Also, you honestly think this is unique to the USA? I have French, German, Belgian, Dutch and god knows what kind of blood in my familiy, never understood why people keep going on about that stuff. I was born in the Netherlands and raised there, thus, I am Dutch.

Anyway, for OP, enjoy the beer and sausages.

Any excuse for beer and sausages is ok in my books.

 Corpsesarefun wrote:
If your family has been in the US for 150 years then it's very unlikely that you're a "full blooded german" unless your ancestors all chose to only take german partners...

Not all Americans do that. I certainly don't, and tbh it annoys me when people do. I'm American, my family is American, and we have been American for something like 200 years. I don't mind if people start talking about heritage, but when asked what you are, people should just realize we are American first and foremost.

I always enjoyed Night on Bald Mountain - from the back end of fantasia.
That was based on walpurgisnacht.

@ The OP
Thanks for the link in the op - I enjoyed reading through that.
Did you investigate any of the other links at the bottom?
This was worth a read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night_in_popular_culture

 KingCracker wrote:

 Corpsesarefun wrote:
If your family has been in the US for 150 years then it's very unlikely that you're a "full blooded german" unless your ancestors all chose to only take german partners...

Not all Americans do that. I certainly don't, and tbh it annoys me when people do. I'm American, my family is American, and we have been American for something like 200 years. I don't mind if people start talking about heritage, but when asked what you are, people should just realize we are American first and foremost.

Except that part of the cultural identity of our country is the varied heritage we all have. If it weren't for that we would get to enjoy things like St. Patricks Day (when it's put on by Irish-American clubs and not donkey caves looking to get wasted on a work day), Oktoberfest put on by those of German descent. That's why I love Cleveland, we've got 5 major heritages, Polish, Irish, Italian, Greek, and Eastern European (Romanian, Slovakian, Czech, etc...). And because of this, we have tons of food from those countries and tons of festivals celebrating people that are proud to come from those places. It's great to sit around and grill up some meat, blow stuff up, and drink 'MURICAN beer on 4th of July, but people have brought so much from their countries and families to this country that we'd be doing a disservice to the cultural mixing (again not melting we've got some issues to sort out first ) pot that America is.

As to the "we are American first and foremost" thing. If another American asks you that, he either wants to know your heritage, or he has such a raging hard on for 'MURICA that he'd probably call you a terrorist lover if you answered anything other than American, and those types of Americans are the type of people I'd rather not associate with because it'll get me put on some sort of list. If someone from another country asks me where I'm from, they generally already know I'm from America if I've said more than a single word, and so I just tell them, "I'm from Ohio, a state in America" because that gives them more information that what they might now.

People stay on topic. Is it that hard for your upper lobes.
To end the arguing Ethnicity and nationality are different. My nationality is 'Murican and my ethnicity is German.

 TheSaintofKilllers wrote:
People stay on topic. Is it that hard for your upper lobes.

This is Dakka. Yes.

 purplefood wrote:

 TheSaintofKilllers wrote:
People stay on topic. Is it that hard for your upper lobes.

This is Dakka. Yes.

Indeed. My upper lobes are not amused.

I see Alfndrate has already enlightened you on why many Americans value their varied heritages.

 Monster Rain wrote:
I see Alfndrate has already enlightened you on why many Americans value their varied heritages.

yep, added diversity in holidays you can claim for drinking/ eating/not going to work