Osterbrunnen
TheOsterbrunnen(Easter Well or Easter Fountain) is a German tradition of decoratingpublic wellsorfountainswithEaster eggsforEaster.It began in the early 20th century in theFranconian Switzerlandregion ofUpper Franconiabut has spread to other regions. The decoration is usually kept fromGood Fridayuntil two weeks after Easter.
History
[edit]Decorating a well for Easter honours water, essential for life, and Easter, the feast of renewed life. In addition to eggs (now often artificial, to guard against vandalism), paper ribbons called "Pensala" and garlands of evergreens are woven around well-heads or formed into crowns over them.[1]In several locations flowers are also used.[2]
Franconian Switzerland (‹See Tfd›German:Fränkische Schweiz), so called for its rugged rock outcroppings, lies in the region ofUpper Franconiain northernBavaria.[3]The tradition of Osterbrunnen began there in the early 20th century. The Osterbrunnen inAufseßis said to have been first decorated around 1909; that in the village of Engelhardsberg has been dressed since 1913. After World War II, public wells became less important, reducing the amount of decoration.[2]However, beginning in 1952, Dr. Kunstmann and his wife, ofNuremberg,worked to revive the tradition in Franconian Switzerland.[4]During the 1980s the idea spread to other parts of Upper Franconia. The decorated wells became a tourist attraction; the wells inHeiligenstadtandBieberbachare destinations for bus tours from cities such as Munich and Dresden. Heiligenstadt is visited by some 80 buses a day. The fountain in Bieberbach was listed in 2001 in theGuinness World Recordsfor 11,108 hand-painted eggshells.[2]
The tradition of the Osterbrunnen has also spread outside Franconia toHesse[5]and to theSteigerwald,to the valley of theAltmühl,toSaxony,to thePalatinate,to theSaarlandand toSwabia.
Possible origins
[edit]There was an old tradition throughout Germany of drawing water in silence at Easter for purification and medical treatment,[6]which was sometimes referred to as Osterbrunnen.[7]Wells were cleaned and decorated with garlands and sometimes eggs in May, a tradition which survived relatively late in the 19th century inBacharach.[8]Other dates for well decorating includedPentecostin southern Thuringia andMidsummerin Fulda; it took place at Easter inBohemia.[9]Nineteenth-century writers, particularlyKarl Weinhold,suggested that these traditions of well cleaning and decorating were remnants of pre-Christian practices. In work first published in 1987, Claudia Schillinger has argued for aWendishorigin of the decoration of wells in Franconia.[10]
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Osterbrunnen inBieberbach(2010) -
Painted eggs in Bieberbach (2004) -
Osterbrunnen in Tiefenpölz (2009) -
Osterbrunnen in Münchsteinach (2010) -
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Gertraud Kellers."Brauchtum rund um Ostern"(PDF)(in German).University of Regensburg.p. 2.Retrieved11 April2012.
- ^abc"Geschichte der Osterbrunnen – Mit Liste der Osterbrunnenorte"(in German). Fränkische Schweiz.Retrieved8 April2012.
- ^"Easter in Germany".Journey to Germany. Archived fromthe originalon 3 January 2013.Retrieved8 April2012.
- ^ Helga Rühnagel (2005).Osterbrunnen in der Fränkischen Schweiz(in German). Verlag Lippert, Ebermannstadt.ISBN978-3-930125-06-7.
- ^ "Osternester, Osterhasen, Osterbrunnen... große Vielfalt mit bunten Eiern"(in German). osthessen-news.de. 9 April 2012.Retrieved9 April2012.
- ^Otto von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld,Das festliche Jahr: in Sitten, Gebräuchen und Festen der germanischen Völker,Leipzig: Spamer, 1863,OCLC6699310,p. 102(in German),referring toMaundy Thursday.
- ^Max Höfler, "Das Jahr im oberbayerischen Volksleben, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Volksmedicin",Beiträge zur Anthropologie und Urgeschichte Bayerns13.1–3 (1899)p. 17(in German)
- ^von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld,pp. 143–44(in German)
- ^Karl Weinhold,"Die Verehrung der Quellen in Deutschland",Abhandlungen der königlichen-preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, philosophisch-historische Classe 1(1898)onlineat heiligequellen.de(in German)
- ^Claudia Schillinger,Osterbrunnen in der Fränkischen Schweiz: Schwerpunkt und Ausweitung eines Brauchs,Bamberg: Bayerische Verlagsanstalt, 1987,ISBN9783870523770.
Further reading
[edit]- Claudia Schillinger (Text), Carlo Schillinger (Photos):Fränkische Osterbrunnen. Volksbrauch und Volkskunst.Heinrichs-Verlag, Bamberg 2002,ISBN978-3-89889-064-9(in German)
- Lars Kuck (DVD)Osterbrunnen in der Fränkischen Schweiz.Verlag Kuck Filmproduktion, Oberreichenbach 2011,ISBN978-3-941491-12-0(in German)
External links
[edit]
- Osterbrunnen(in German)
- Osterbrunnen im Amberg-Sulzbacher Land(in German)
- Osterbrunnen in Forchheim und Oberfranken(in German)
- Bilder vom Osterbrunnen in Sulzbach-Rosenberg aus dem Jahr 2005(in German)