Stress cardiomyopathy

. The expatriate English musical group the Legendary Pink Dots has a song on their 1983 album "Curse" titled "Wall Purges Night," an obvious pun on Walpurgisnacht, with lyrical references to Nazism and rioting. Of 3,000,000 heart attacks in US women diagnosed each year as many as 60,000 may actually be Broken Heart Syndrome, requiring different treatment, according to some estimates. Adolf Hitler, with several members of his staff (including Joseph Goebbels), committed suicide on Walpurgisnacht, April 30/May 1, 1945. For unknown reasons the great majority of stress cardiomyopathy cases have been diagnosed in women. Anton Szandor LaVey chose Walpurgis Night in 1966 to found the Church of Satan. The common treatment for heart attack of administering adrenalin to support blood pressure is not appropriate for this condition. The second act of Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is entitled "Walpurgisnacht.".

Current theory has it that a sudden, massive surge of adrenalin stuns the heart, greatly reducing the ability to pump blood. In Sweden it is only the labour and socialist parties which use May 1 for political activities, while others observe the traditional festivities. Only recently it became more known in the western world. This does not only include right-wing parties, but also others like the church have followed suit, marching and making speeches. It was originally described in Japan as takotsubo-syndrome. Starting with the parties of the left, the whole of the Finnish political scene has nominated Vappu as the day to go out on stumps and agitate. Emotional stress may trigger stress cardiomyopathy. The Finnish tradition is also a shadowing of the Soviet Era May Day parade.

Stress cardiomyopathy could easily be confused with a heart attack, but stress cardiomyopathy is much less serious. The festivities also include a picnic on May 1st, which is sometimes prepared in a lavish manner. In the human body, stress cardiomyopathy (or broken heart syndrome) is a condition in which heart muscles are temporarily weakened. Often the magazine has been stuffed inside standard industrial packages such as sardine-cans and milk cartons. Classic forms have included an Äpy printed on a toilet-roll and a bedsheet. Both are sophomoric; but while Julkku is a standard magazine, Äpy is always a gimmick.

Fixtures include the capping of the Havis Amanda, a nude female statue in Helsinki, and the biannually alternating publications of ribald matter called Äpy and Julkku. One tradition is drinking mead, whose alcohol content varies. Many people who have graduated from lukio wears the cap. From the end of the 19th century, "Fin de Siècle", and onwards, this traditional upper class feast has been co-opted by students attending university, already having received their student cap.

The student traditions are also one of the main characteristics of "Vappu". The celebration is typically centered on plentiful use of sparkling wine and other alcoholic beverages. Today in Finland, Walpurgis Night (Vapunaatto) is, along with New Year's Eve, the biggest carnival-style festivity taking place in the streets of Finland's towns and cities. In Sweden, Valborg is especially notorious because of the excessive amounts of alcohol people consume on that very day.

There are also newer student traditions like the carnival parade, the "Cortège", which has been held since 1910 by the students at Chalmers in Gothenburg. The strongest and most traditional spring festivities are also found in the old university cities, like Uppsala and Lund where both current and graduated students gather at events that take up most of the day from early morning to late night on April 30, or "sista april" ("The last day of april") as most students of Lund call it. Most of the songs are from the 19th century and were spread by the students' spring festivities. The tradition which is most spread throughout the country is probably singing songs of spring.

The expected reward for this task to be paid in eggs. An older tradition from Southern Sweden was for the younger people to collect greens and branches from the woods at twilight, which were used to adorn the houses of the village. One of the main traditions in Sweden is to light large bonfires, a custom which is most firmly established in Svealand, and which began in Uppland during the 18th century. The forms of celebration in Sweden vary in different parts of the country and between different cities.

Walpurgis is one of the main holidays during the year in both Sweden and Finland, alongside of Christmas and Midsummer. The phenomenon was first reported on the Brocken."
—Taken from Oxford Phrase & Fable. It is noted for the phenomenon of the Brocken spectre and for witches' revels which reputably took place there on Walpurgis night. The Brocken Spectre is a magnified shadow of an observer, typically surrounded by rainbow-like bands, thrown onto a bank of cloud in high mountain areas when the sun is low. "Walpurgis Night (in German folklore) the night of April 30 (May Day's eve), when witches meet on the Brocken mountain and hold revels with their Gods..."
"Brocken the highest of the Harz Mountains of north central Germany.