Tuesday marked Walpurgis night in Germany and much of Central and Northern Europe. Witches are a central theme in this rite of spring, and in Germany the festivities are centered around the Harz Mountains region, where witches hold a large celebration on the Brocken mountain. Typically, a straw witch is also burned to mark the end of winter. Here, a woman dressed as a witch flies on a cable in the town of Braunlage in the western state of Lower Saxony.