Norfolk Pilgrim

On a rocky outcrop, above a small park, stands  the village church of St. Nikolai. Built of timber  in 670, it is a smaller version of the famous  Marktkirche in nearby Clausthal. A weathervane, atop the bell tower, represents Christ Risen from the tomb. Inside the lavish,  but by comparison with rococo Catholic baroque churches, restrained Lutheran Baroque has Christ arisen, above the pulpit. With this altar piece I had finally discovered a church interior that perfectly complements the baroque music of Handel's Messiah It was good to find the church doors open and a warm welcome from the Christian community that meets there . Like many of our Norfolk Churches they welcome visitors and seek to share their faith with those who respond to their invitation to stop and rest a while. Back in 740 AD when St. Boniface, Walburga and others were doing their thing spreading the Gospel to the, then, heathen Germans,  King  Alfwald wrote to them assuring the...

 O.K. the Brocken is no great peaked mountain. Its just the highest point of the Hartz.  But anyone will tell you that is where the witches gather on the eve of May Day - Walpurgis Night. In Goethe's Faustus the Brocken is where the witches gather: Now to the Brocken the witches ride; The stubble is gold and the corn is green; There is the carnival crew to be seen, And Squire Urianus will come to preside. So over the valleys our company floats, With witches a-farting on stinking old goats. In the tourist towns shops are full of souvenir witches. The pre-Christian religion seems to linger here. In the Middle Ages they replaced the feast day of St Walburga on May Day and focussed on the light of the Christian faith driving out the darkness of evil. Walburga was a Devon girl, part of St. Boniface's mission to Frisia and Germany, she died in Heidenheim in Franconia.