As a young boy, Volker Kraft saw his very first Easter Tree (Eierbaum, Osterbaum or Ostereirbaum in German), and decided that he would have one of his very own when he grew up. Time passed and young Volker became a married man with a family, but his childhood dream stuck with him and he decorated his first Easter Tree in 1965 using 18 coloured plastic eggs.
A few years later, he and his wife stopped using plastic eggs and instead used real eggs which they decorated after using the insides.
When their children grew up, they started helping with the decorating, and the Easter Tree became a family tradition, known not only in their home town of Saalfeld, but all over Germany.
After their children moved out of the house, it seemed that the Easter Tree tradition would finally cease, but grandsons arrived and the Krafts went back to decorating their giant tree.
The number of Easter eggs hung on the tree's branches grew every year until in 2010 it reached an incredible total of 9,500!
It takes two to five people two weeks to decorate the tree. It stays fully decorated for two weeks prior to Easter and one week afterwards.
I haven't heard of this tradition in other parts of the world, but perhaps there are indeed other places where trees are decorated not only at Christmas.
A few years later, he and his wife stopped using plastic eggs and instead used real eggs which they decorated after using the insides.
When their children grew up, they started helping with the decorating, and the Easter Tree became a family tradition, known not only in their home town of Saalfeld, but all over Germany.
After their children moved out of the house, it seemed that the Easter Tree tradition would finally cease, but grandsons arrived and the Krafts went back to decorating their giant tree.
The number of Easter eggs hung on the tree's branches grew every year until in 2010 it reached an incredible total of 9,500!
It takes two to five people two weeks to decorate the tree. It stays fully decorated for two weeks prior to Easter and one week afterwards.
I haven't heard of this tradition in other parts of the world, but perhaps there are indeed other places where trees are decorated not only at Christmas.
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