Easter Wells 2014

[selenak]

Last year I was in London during the Easter holidays, which meant I couldn't follow one of my favourite Easter traditions, to wit, visiting the beautiful Easter Wells in our Franconian country side. This year, I did so one day early, because rain was broadcast for Good Friday (and sure enough, it's raining now), whereas yesterday it was lovely and sunny. And thus, I can share with you my annual Easter pic spam again - the wells in their multitudes of colours and eggs are there below the cut.



Our (i.e. APs & self) first stop this year was Litzendorf, where they didn't just decorate the well but created a large setting.






Details:



There are, btw, only a few lambs; hares still rule as an Easter symbol. Still, here's one of the few:



This particular Easter Well also includes clerical portrait eggs (of the former and present pople, the arch bishop of Bamberg and the parish priest):



I do love the hares in the ivy:



On to the next stop, which was Gasselbach:



Then we went to my AP's favourite Easter Well, Tiefenpölz. Which is my dad's favourite not simply for the beautiful arrangement but because they offer eggs for free there, as an Easter present. :)







You may have noticed the row of eggs depicting the passion of Christ. Here are some close up:



And another detailed look at the decorations:



Moving on through Franconian Switzerland, to Aufsess:





And Heiligenstadt, which has one of the most famous wells. There's also dancing during the weekend, but as I said: the broadcast is rain. I rarely had the chance to see it without a cluster of people around it as I did here:







This egg cracks me up because it advertises the local butcher:


Beringerersmühle



Next village: Leutenbach





And Egloffstein:



Pottenstein, which also boasts some lovely old houses and a castle which you can rent for school holidays (I know because my old school did that once, decades ago):



Bärnfels:



Obertrubach, main village:



Obertrubach, outside the village, at the source of the Trubach:





And lastly, the most famous Easter Well in Franconian Switzerland, Bieberbach:



With its school of hares:



The Bieberbach well in details:





















In case I shan't be able to post properly again during the holidays: happy Easter to all who celebrate it!

Comments

[lonelywalker]

These are incredible! I'd never heard of this practice before, and I was completely astonished when I realised the decorations are actually all eggs. Some crazy talent and dedication has clearly gone into every single one. Thanks for sharing these beautiful photos!

By the way, is that an English lamb? (re: the flag)

[selenak]

It's a custom unique to Franconia - they don't do it in the rest of Germany, let alone other countries - so I'm not surprised you hadn't heard of it. Franconia used to have a big water problem, and so decorating the wells for Easter meant asking for more water and fertility of the land, that's where the custom comes from.

Re: lamb, I think the cross is to honor that particular saint who is the patron of the parish (St. Andrew, I think, but I haven't looked it up, so don't hold me to it!). But who knows, maybe it is an English lamb - Franconia was converted to christianity by Irish monks, after all! (Some are buried here.)

[lonelywalker]

Thanks for the explanation! Probably not St. Andrew, as his is the X-shaped cross on the Scottish flag, but I get the idea.

[littlerhymes]

Wow, these are stunning. Awesome photos.

The cumulative effect of the big displays is stunning, but I really love the whimsiness and personality of the detailed individual eggs.

[selenak]

Those wells are bigger on the inside in the details and the whimsy love that shows in every one of them, like the TARDIS. Quite how many hand-painted eggs survive through the holidays each year despite weather changes, I don't want to know...

[watervole]

Thank you so much for posting these. They're wonderful. Have I mentioned Derbyshire well-dressing traditions to you?

[selenak]

You did! And I was intrigued, as I hadn't encountered them anywhere else before.

[marycontrary]

Neat! I'd love to visit these.

Small matter, but the Flounder picture is in there twice, the first time where you've promised closeups of the story of Christ.

[selenak]

*edits*

Thanks for telling me. The close up on the passion eggs is now there!

[likeadeuce]

Lovely. Your photoposts have become one of my anticipated Easter traditions :)

[selenak]

*beams*

I'm glad to hear it!