Easter Wells 2010

[selenak]

If you're familiar with my ramblings, you know the Aged Parents and self always make a trip through the Franconian countryside around Easter, because we Franconians have a unique custom: decorating all the wells, and in some cases also the bridges, with hand-painted eggs and greenery. Even on cloudy days, it makes for a beautiful spectacle, and so I wish you a happy Easter weekend with the following pictures from Franconia:



Tiefenpölz is always our first big stopover, both because it's a great Easter Well and because it offers eggs for free for the wayfarer, and my dad can never resist:







Some of the eggs have absolutely amazing details. The ones directly above the fountain, for example, form a complete tale of the passion:





Next comes Teuchatz:



Where the eggs display, among others, a favourite childhood literature character, the goblin Pumuckl:



And others:



If you can't have a well but are connected to fluids anyway, being a pub, then you put this outside:



It's from Oberleinleiter, where the Easter Well looks like this:



And then there are wells in combination with bridges, like Königsfeld:







The most famous Easter Well/Bridge combination is in Drosendorf:









And then there's the bridge to Aufsess, complete with castle in the background:









This is the well at Beringersmühle:



And the one in Gößweinstein:





The biggest Easter Well of all Franconia is in Biberach. It has an amazing colour scheme - depending from which side you approach, a different colour seems to dominate. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:





















...and I'll end with an egg that shows a Franconian town and demonstrates the delicate painting skill in a great way:

Comments

[scrollgirl]

Wow! That's incredible! I've never heard of this tradition--it's lovely. Those eggs are amazing. Thanks so much for sharing the pics!

[selenak]

It's specific to my home region; I haven't encountered it anywhere else, either. It started because Franconia is a very dry area, so the farmers wanted to call down God's blessing on the wells specifically, and Easter of course has all the spring and fertility associations. If you use the easter wells tag, you should find the pic spams from earlier years.

Also, you're very welcome!