Our Egg Tree in 2016

In 2016, the branches of an old fire bush were all that I had to work with.

I used some heavy stones to support these branches and also added a few bird's nests.

Here is the finished display, but it was never entirely finished. Apparently old fire bush limbs are not
 particularly strong! So the egg tree kept wilting over and eggs dropped daily.

Here is a good shot of the tree prior to any catastrophes!

This bunny was doomed and he didn't even know it. But such is the way with bunnies.

A Pink Feather Tree Decorated For Easter

See pink feather tree from three angles.

      Above I have posted a few photos of my "pink feather tree" decorated for Easter. Sometimes I display this Easter egg tree against a wall in a narrow spot, such as the one shown here. The tree stands upon a early American writing desk that once belonged to my mother-in-law and now sits in my dining room. There is little room to spare on top of it's narrow level desk top, so the adjustable branches of this tree suit the space perfectly! I've included mouth-blown glass eggs, doily butterflies and an additional variety of handcrafted Easter eggs on it's pink pastel branches.

• See also our family's green and white feather trees here...
• Read how to make a doll-size egg tree also

A few of the mouth-blown glass Easter eggs that hang on the pink feather tree.

At one time I had entire sets of these sweet little glass bees and butterflies.
 Now there are only two remaining. I purchased them originally from a garden
 nursery and then wired them for my Easter trees.

Assembling An Easter Egg Tree From Scratch

      For many years I have assembled Easter egg trees from scratch. In part this is due to the lack of them that may be purchased. I do have an artificial Easter egg tree that you will see in a later post after I have decorated it. This year my youngest begged for a "real Easter egg tree" similar to the ones she grew up with. As you can see by clicking on the photo below, this one is made with real branches that have been manipulated with great industry. If you have access to lovely branches that need pruning, it is totally unnecessary to paper mache over the branches. Unfortunately, this year I was unable to find suitable branches for such an assembly. The branches that I used were those that I picked up off of my front lawn after a early March storm. These were fragile and uninteresting at best. So, I decided to improve them myself, thereby, demonstrating that one can have only a few options and still create a truely lovely Easter display.

      Left, are the river rocks brought to me by an Easter guest one year. These are highly unusual quartz. I have saved them for many years and I think they will indeed become a traditional inclusion in my Easter decor. Next, I have photographed an old ceramic pot that has very decorative raised designs. I love the patina on the pot and it also goes with the colors on the walls of the study area where I will be displaying my Easter egg tree. In the middle, you can see I have very little to work with in terms of nicely shaped branches and these are falling apart as well. In the following photo, I have begun to hot glue and tape my little tree. Last photograph, I completed the shape as it pleased me and also assembled the mache covered branches into my ceramic pot between the river quartz. This process took approximately three hours. I only need now to hot glue the pink silk, floral buds onto the little egg tree to complete it's final look.

      I layered onto my branches masking tape and then brown paper with tacky white glue. The finished tree structure is really quite strong. I could probably save this little tree for a few more years to use in displays if I wanted to. A few trimmings and a little hot glue are not normally worth the storage space to me. 

      Young teens could craft such a project and create even more elaborate additions. Next year I will include some more examples of egg trees for my visitors to think about crafting for themselves, but for now this classic version will suffice.

On the far left you can see the finished Easter egg tree. Center, a closer view.
 Right, a close up of the Easter figurines below.

A few things included on this egg tree are tiny white doves, Easter lilies, birds, and very light
weight Easter eggs. The pink silk flowers and rustic ceramic pot are complemented by the brick
 colored walls and concrete counter tops.

I have tied a paper cross to the very top branch.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 Coloring Page

Hang holy cards or prayer cards from your Easter tree

      In the Catholic tradition, holy cards or prayer cards are small, devotional pictures mass-produced for the use of the faithful. They typically depict a religious scene or a saint in an image about the size of a playing card. The reverse typically contains a prayer, some of which promise an indulgence for its recitation. The circulation of these cards is an important part of the visual folk culture of Roman Catholics. 

      Old master prints, nearly all on religious subjects, served many of the same functions as holy cards, especially the cheaper woodcuts; the earliest dated surviving example is from 1423, probably from southern Germany, and depicts Saint Christopher, with handcoloring, it is found as part of the binding of a manuscript of the Laus Virginis (1417) which belongs to the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Later engraving or etching were more commonly used. Some had elaborate borders of paper lace surrounding the images; these were called dévotes dentelles in France. 

I hang prayer cards amongst many other lightweight items
from my Easter trees. Poke a tiny holewith a needle at the top
of the card and then string a fine gold thread through it for hanging.
Prayer cards come in infinite variety and either have classic
prayer, poems or scripture printed on the reverse side.
I am relatively selective about the types of messages
printed on the reverse sides of prayer cards because I
am a Protestant. Most of the prayers are common to
Christians of many different denominations and church
histories. I think I purchased these for approx. 50 cents each.

      The invention of color lithography made it possible to reproduce colored images cheaply, leading to a much broader circulation of the cards. An early center of their manufacture was in the environs of the Church of St Sulpice in Paris; the lithographed images made there were done in delicate pastel colors, and proved extremely influential on later designs. Belgium and Germany also became centers of the manufacture of holy cards, as did Italy in the twentieth century. Catholic printing houses (such as Maison de la Bonne Presse in France and Ars Sacra in Germany) produced large numbers of cards, and often a single design was printed by different companies in different countries. 

      Special holy cards are printed for Roman Catholics to be distributed at funerals; these are "In memoriam cards", with details and often a photograph of the person whom they commemorate as well as prayers printed on the back. Other specialized holy cards record baptisms, confirmations, and other religious anniversaries. Others are not customized, and are circulated to promote the veneration of the saints and images they bear. 

A Protestant tract full of beautifully,
elaborate images, not lacking in professional
execution in the least. Visitors here are
more than welcome to print and use this tract, I
have cleaned it for this very purpose.

      At the end of the nineteenth century, some Protestants attempted to answer these Roman Catholic images with similar images of their own. They produced Bible cards or Sunday school cards, with lithographed illustrations depicting Bible stories and parables, more modern scenes of religious life or prayer, or sometimes just a Biblical text illuminated by calligraphy; these were linked to Biblical passages that related to the image. The reverse typically held a sermonette instead of a prayer. Imagery here was always the servant of text, and as such these Protestant cards tended to be replaced by tracts that emphasized message instead of imagery, and were illustrated with cartoon-like images if they were illustrated at all. (This author is a little misinformed about Protestant graphic history. I've include here a entire Protestant religious tract produced during the end of the nineteenth century. The artist was very skilled and the message quite appropriately delivered. cough.)

The Easter Egg Tree

Saalfeld Easter egg tree with 9200 eggs, taken March 24, 2009.

      A German tradition of decorating trees and bushes with Easter eggs is known as the Ostereierbaum, or Easter egg tree. A notable example is the Saalfelder Ostereierbaum (Saalfeld Easter egg tree) in Saalfeld, Thuringia.

      The tradition in Germany to decorate the branches of trees and bushes with eggs for Easter is centuries old, but its origins have been lost. The egg is an ancient symbol of life all over the world. Eggs are hung on branches of outdoor trees and bushes and on cut branches inside. The custom is found mostly in Germany and Austria, but also in other German-influenced places such as Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moravia, and the Pennsylvania Dutch region of the United States. Egg trees are also sometimes decorated on May Day, Christmas, Whitsun, and the summer solstice. Other German Easter traditions include the dressing of public wells as Osterbrunnen, Osterhasen (Easter Hares) and Osterfeuer (Easter bonfires).

      An exceptional example is Saalfelder Ostereierbaum, an apple tree in the garden of Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Thuringia. Kraft and his family have been decorating the tree since 1965, starting with just 18 plastic eggs. This had been a childhood dream of Volker Kraft since he saw his first Easter "tree", a lilac bush which he passed on the way to school as a youth in 1945. By 1994 the Krafts had increased the number of eggs to about 350 pieces. As the tree grew, they needed more eggs for decorating. The Krafts blew out almost all the eggs used in their household during the year and reused the eggs each year.

      Between 1994 and 2009, the family hung an annual average of 700 new Easter eggs on the tree, but due to losses by storm and vandalism, the net annual average increase was 590 eggs. In 2012 there were over 10,000 eggs on the Easter egg tree, and Kraft said that he would not try to hang more. The tree in Saalfeld does not hold the record for the most eggs on one tree. That honor belongs to the Rostock Zoo, which in April 2007 decorated a red oak with 79,596 blown and painted eggs, which earned it an entry in Guinness World Records.

      In 1995, a ver.di training center was built in the immediate vicinity, bringing more visitors and national fame to the Kraft Easter egg tree. Beginning in 2003 newspapers from Holland, Kuwait, Austria, Spain, Australia, Thailand, USA, and South Africa began reporting on the Kraft Easter egg tree. Crowds of visitors have continuously come since then. The entrance is free, but for curiosity the visitors were counted in 2011 as about 8,000.

      Depending on the weather and the date of Easter, the family begins hanging eggs on the tree between late February and late March, roughly four weeks before Easter. In 2009 it took them nine days to decorate the tree; the task involved family members, especially Volker Kraft, his wife Christa, and daughter Gabriela Rumrich. They use ladders to reach the heights of the tree, and hang the eggs working from the inside near the trunk to outside of the tree branches, and from top to bottom. They remove the eggs before the leaves grow to prevent damage to the tree.

      All eggs are mouth-blown. Some are sprayed with one or more multicolored patterns. Some eggs are painted with motifs found in the city, such as the city gates or the home-museum, but world-famous buildings are also used as motifs. Many eggs are covered in crochet and protected against further weathering. New themes are used every year. They perforate some eggs for decoration, and others are enhanced with clay for transformation to shapes such as frogs, turtles, hedgehogs, and hot air balloons.

      Some visitors bring their own eggs and donate them to the tree, and eggs from foreign countries are represented. Especially precious eggs are shown in a protective display case.

• Official site of the Saalfelder Ostereierbaum (German)
• Germany Has Thousands of Easter Eggs (video)

Egg tree in Germany has 10,000 decorations!