Witches, saints and dust devils

I went to the seashore at Newport to see if the gale had blown in anything of interest but the beach was scoured as clean and empty as a blank sheet of paper, there was hardly a thing on it - the reason being it was an offshore wind, blowing out not in. My blip shows the Aeolian processes at work. That's the term for the part played by the wind in shaping the earth's surface by moving sand around, eroding away it in one place and depositing in another. You can see how the wind is whisking the sand from the dunes (top left) and sending it skimming and whirling over the beach.

This windblown dust is certainly the devil to get in your eyes (hence Casey's pained expression) and the phenomenon creates the eerie effect of a flickering carpet of smokey spectres : it reminded me that the last day of April is Walpurgis night, traditionally the occasion for witches' sabbaths and diabolical revels. In northern Europe bonfires are still lit to drive away the evil spirits that lurked in the long winter nights, and to welcome the time of sunlight, birth and growth at the spring festival of Beltane.

Walpurga was a Catholic nun who denounced witchcraft and paganism and since she was canonized on May 1st her name was attached to the day - hence the eve became known as Walpurgis night.

Have a look at the witches and devils dancing tonight in this clip from the ballet of Gounod's Faust.