Der Früling is just around the corner. Who or what is der Früling? It's the spring! The season, not the creaky things in beds. It has been a cloudy and cold winter in Germany and spring is definitely trying to take hold.
If only Mother Nature would cooperate. I have decided though, that Mother Nature is a cruel and vengeful witch when she gave us one week of sunshine and temps above 50F° and then took it all away and replaced it with clouds and a biting cold wind from former East Germany. So that's what we get for tearing down the wall, huh? Cold wind? Thanks. Thanks a lot.
It is Good Friday today so everything is closed up tight and the roads are empty.
See?
After running a quick errand, I saw how deserted town seemed and so I took a quick drive around Heidelberg. Streets that are usually packed with bikers and pedestrians had become ghost towns. The sky was mostly cloudy, but the sun kept trying to peek out and so I walked along the Neckar and enjoyed my city.
The river was slow and lazy today, meandering down from villages higher up in the canyon and sliding quietly by me.
The river was so calm that these two guys were able to do this.
I walked along the river and noticed across from me daffodils had sprung up along the banks.
Bunches of crocus had erupted in formerly all green lawns.
The clouds were getting thicker and the air still had a chill of winter about it, but everywhere you looked it was undeniable that spring was fighting its way into our little corner of Germany.
I stood under the bridge, waiting for the sun to come out one last time (it didn't) so I could a picture of the river with the sun sparkling off of it. When I finally realized the clouds were here to stay I looked up and saw I was right under the old gate tower.
To millions of people all over the world, Heidelberg will just be that place where they had an amazing vacation. Not me. It will be that place where I lived for a year. Where I walked, and ate, and got lost, and turned the wrong way on Einbahnstraßes (one way streets), and looked for parking, and made friends, American and German. And lastly, where I started to think, "hey, I can do this. I can live in Germany." Because for awhile there, I thought I couldn't.
I walked back to my car and passed tourists getting on buses.
The streets had been fairly empty, all except for these guys. Apparently they didn't get the memo that Germany shuts down Easter weekend.
Just like spring was slowly working its way through Germany and taking hold, Germany was slowly working its way through me. And taking hold. I drove home thinking about no matter where I move to next or where I go in this world, I will always have been a Heidelberger at one point in my life.
Which means I will never have to go in here.
Tschüß,
Kelly*
*Heidelberger du jour.
A German custom every Easter is to take fresh cut branches from a tree and place them in your home and decorate the branches with Easter eggs. Or decorate a tree or bush outside your home like this man here. The result is your very own der Osterbaum. In shops all around Germany you can buy fresh cut, bundles of branches. Please feel free to cut your own from your own trees. Neighbors tend to not like people sawing away on trees in their yards. Just a little advice from me to you.
Here is our first attempt at der Osterbaum. When my husband came in and saw the tree he said, "Hey! My mom used to do the same thing when I was little!"
I don't think he realized that it was a German custom. I think he thought his mom was really crafty and ahead of her time. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, shall we?
The proper way to do der Osterbaum is to blow your own eggs, like this, and then hand paint them. Or you can buy plastic eggs and string them up. When I searched the stores for plastic eggs, stamped on the back of every one was "Made In China." Um... I didn't come all the way to frickin' Germany to buy plastic eggs that were Made In China. But I really wasn't in the mood to blow my own eggs either. So I headed off to the very beautiful, very expensive German store of hand-made crafts and invested in 13 hand blown and hand painted by-a-real-live-German Easter eggs.
Not bad, huh?
My husband was none-to-happy to hear what these German Easter eggs cost. Needless to say, I could have probably bought 75 dozen regular, non hand-blown, non hand-painted by-a-real-live-German eggs. What can I say? You want that authentic Handmade In Germany stamp? You're gonna pay for it.
The Easter Bunny, or der Osterhase, actually derives from ancient Germany. The early pagans of this area saw all the rabbits, who were usually nocturnal animals, start running around during the day and propagating like crazy right around their festivals celebrating the ancient pagan goddess of spring and fertility, Eostre. That's pretty much how rabbits became associated with Easter.
So every time you bite into a delicious chocolate rabbit at Easter, thank those early German settlers who came to America and brought with them their symbols of early pagan goddess worship. Mmm... pagan worship tastes good.
I have loved walking around in Germany and seeing all the little bushes with eggs blowing in the wind tied to them. Easter is a big deal in Germany. They celebrate the whole week before (Holy Week), and they also get Good Friday and Easter Monday off from work. I had never heard of Easter Monday before I moved here. I am apologizing now for living such a sheltered life in America.
I think the idea of Easter Monday is great! Everybody needs an extra day to look for chocolate eggs and jelly beans and then eat these same chocolate eggs and jelly beans. In Germany, they usually have a big dinner on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. Let's hear it for Germany!
And what goes better with hand-painted eggs than a German table runner with Easter eggs on it? This wasn't hand sewn, but it was made in a German factory. Good enough I think.
Wishing you a Happy Easter or Frohe Ostern or a Happy Pagan Goddess Worship Ceremony. Whatever floats your boat!
Tschüß,
Kelly*
*Enjoyer of all treats deemed pagan and non-pagan alike.
