Germany is a country of singles, Berlin itself is one of the cities with the highest number of single people. Berlin is called somewhat the European capital of singles, but we could also say that there are so many singles in German cities. In fact, although Berlin is called “the poor but sexy” and it is combined with the idea that it is a perfect city for occasional meetings, the city isn’t in the top 10 of the German cities with more singles. Perhaps also for this reason, some people are pinning their hopes on a very old oak. The tree is about 100 km from Hamburg, in the region of Schleswig-Holstein, and it is called for 131 years Der Bräutigamseiche (the groom’s tree).
THE TREE OF SINGLES: for 131 years helps to find the SOUL MATE
# The story of the tree: it’s worthy of a movie plot
matrimonio sotto la quercia
Minna and Wilhelm were two guys in love, but her father didn’t approve their affair. In 1890 the two began to exchange secretly letters using the cavity of the oak as a place where to put their letters. When they finally got approval from both families, the couple decided to marry in front of the tree that had guarded their love. Since then, many people decided to pin their hopes of finding the soul mate on the oak and to fill the cavity of the tree with paper cards.
Then the tree was assigned its own postal address and for 20 years the postman Mr Martens delivered the letters to the oak. One day the man found a letter addressed to him and now the postman and the woman of the letter are married.
# How it works
lettere da scrivere
The oak, which is precisely located in the German town of Eutin, receives more than 1000 letters per year. As we said, since 1927 it has its own postal address, in fact it’s easy to send it letters. However the cavity of the tree, where letters are laid, is quite high and to help the postman, who every day entered the woods to deliver the mail, a staircase was put. People usually write the oak a description of themselves so that the one who find the cards can decide whether to answer or whether to put them back in the cavity. It is a sort Tinder, or any dating app, but much more romantic and older. It is thought that in the last 131 years the oak tree has led to about 100 weddings!
However, the plant was affected by a fungal disease and in 2009 it was symbolically replaced with a chestnut tree of Himmelgeist, the second tree in Germany to have its own postal address. Fortunately, some arborists noticed the disease and managed to prevent the infection from spreading by cutting some branches. Despite the “replacement” the oak continues to receive his love letters!
BEATRICE BARAZZETTI
