For those of you who don't know it, my name is Barbara. And this is "my" tree - well, it is a Barbara Tree! It's an old Christmas tradition in the region near Nuremberg and Bayreuth. People would cut branches from deciduous trees, mainly fruit and chestnut trees to decorate them for Christmas. This had to be stopped around the time of the baroque period. The region is known for its cherry tree orchards and this custom was apparently causing too much damage to the trees. The tradition continued in a smaller format and people would cut branches on St Andrew's day (30th Nov) and put them in vases on St. Barbara's day (4th Dec). They would start to flower around Christmas. I had known this tradition from being little but was completely oblivious to the custom of decorating those branches with baubles and glass garlands. My mum and dad discovered the tradition alive and well a few years ago in a beer garden not far from us. The "tree" spans nearly half the ceiling in one of the rooms and is densely decorated with old original glass baubles, nightingales and garlands. The cherry blossom had already opened when we visited on Christmas Day, and green was starting to shoot in from the Larch branches.
Thank you all for your time and kind comments on the last few shots! Still desperately playing catch up :-$
Thank you all for the lovely comments :-) Glad you enjoyed the story!