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BROCKEN

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 624 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BROCKEN , a See also:

mountain of See also:Germany, in Prussian See also:Saxony, the highest point (3733 ft.) of the Harz. It is a huge, See also:bare, See also:granite-strewn, See also:dome-shaped See also:mass and, owing to its being the greatest See also:elevation in See also:north Germany, commands magnificent views in all directions. From it See also:Magdeburg and the See also:Elbe, the towers of See also:Leipzig and the Thuringian See also:forest are distinctly visible in clear See also:weather. See also:Access to the See also:summit is attained by a mountain railway (12 m.) from Dreiannen-Hohne, a station on the normal See also:gauge See also:line See also:Wernigerode-See also:Nordhausen, and by two See also:carriage roads from the Bodetal and See also:Ilsenburg respectively. In the folk-See also:lore of north Germany the Brocken holds an important See also:place, and to it cling many legends. See also:Long after See also:Christianity had penetrated to these regions, the Brocken remained a place of See also:heathen See also:worship. Annually, on See also:Walpurgis See also:night (1st of May), curious See also:rites were here enacted, which, condemned by the priests of the See also:Christian See also:church, led to the belief that the See also:devil and witches here held their orgies. Even to this See also:day, this superstition possesses the minds of many See also:country See also:people around, who believe the mountain to be haunted on this night. In literature it is represented by the famous "Brocken See also:scene " in See also:Goethe's See also:Faust. See See also:Jacobs, Der Brocken in Geschichte and See also:Sage (See also:Halle, 1878) ; and Prohle, Brockensagen (Magdeburg, 1888).

End of Article: BROCKEN

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