HAVE GERMAN WILL TRAVEL Osterwoche

OSTERSITTEN UNO BRAUCHE I CUSTOMS and TRADITIONS

OSTERBAUM I TREE

D e r Osterbaum It's only in recent years that I've seen miniature Easter trees being sold in North America. This Easter tradition from Is probably my favorite. Beautifully decorated Easter eggs are hung on branches in a vase in the home or on trees outside adding a splash of colour to spring's palette.

Easter egg tree

A German tradition of decorating trees and bushes with Easter eggs is known as the Ostereierbaum, or tree. A notable example is the Saalfelder Ostereierbaum (Saalfeld Easter egg tree) in Saalfeld, Thuringi~

Saalfeld Easter egg tree with 9200 eggs, taken March 24, 2009

Saalfelder Ostereierbaum

An exceptional example is Saalfelder Ostereierbaum, an apple tree in the garden of Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Thuringia. Kraft and his family have been decorating the tree since 1965, starting with just 18 plastic eggs.[ 6] This had been a childhood dream of Volker Kraft since he saw his first Easter "tree", a lilac bush which he passed on the way to school as a youth in 1945. [71 By 1994 the Krafts had increased the number of eggs to about 350 pieces. As the tree grew, they needed more eggs for decorating. The Krafts blew out almost all the eggs used in their household during the year and reused the eggs each year. [61

History

The tradition in Germany to decorate the branches of trees and bushes with eggs for Easter is centuries old, but its origins have been lost. The egg is an ancient symbol of life all over the world. Eggs are hung on branches of outdoor trees and bushes and on cut branches inside. (l] The custom is found mostly in Germany and , but also in other German-influenced places such as , , , , Moravia, and the Pennsylvania Dutch region of the United States.[2l[3l[41 Egg trees are also sometimes decorated on , , , and the summer solstice. (ll Other German include the dressing of public wells as Osterbrurmen, Osterhasen (Easter Hares) and Osterfeuer (Easter bonfires). [SJ