Last month while I was walking through our neighborhood, I spotted this Stork wood post and suddenly, my husband told me that “They’ve got a new baby!” I asked, “How do you know?” and he said that it is an old tradition not only in Bavaria but also in some European countries like Holland. It is a common sight to put the stork pole in front of the yard or garden of the family who had a new baby.In the beak stork holding a baby in a diaper fixed. A blue ribbons to the diaper means that a boy is born, a pink bow for a girl. Quite similar to Dutch baby traditions just without the infamous Geboortekaartje (Birth card ) and Beschuit met Muisjes.
It is indeed clear that a happy event took place in this house. A very proper way of announcing to the whole neighborhood, right?
The other day, I went on another street and again, found another familiar wood Stork , this time it was a bit different because it has some accessories such as the baby clothes of a girl and a boy.
Kindsbaum or also known as Stork ( Storch) pole is a traditional way of announcing the arrival of babies in Germany. Especially in southern Bavaria, it is customary to set up a so-called child tree for the wedding (in some regions it is called wedding tree). It is about a 5 to 10 m long, white-blue painted trunk, be suspended from the “branches” various baby stuff (bodysuits, pacifier, bottle, etc.). Usually a stork is mounted at the top of the child harness. In addition, located at the bottom of the tree at eye level a blackboard with a poem in which the newly married couple is reminded of his duty to bring to the world within a year. The setting up of a child tree is a particularly beautiful tradition that is lived mainly in southern Bavaria, and always a wonderful surprise for the wedding couple.
So after a year and the couple haven’t had a baby yet, their friends will show up on their wedding anniversary and they are obliged to throw a feast,let’s say maybe 15 liters of beers ,sausages,and other threats. Pretty simple right?
If Stork bird symbolizes birth & Fertility here in Germany then what happened to the Stork population knowing it’s the only country in Europe which has drastically declining child-birth & has a low birth rate same as Japan? Did the stork migrated to India, Philippines & China? Germany needs more Babies, it’s very clear in statistics and not a mythical opinion.
Have you had any experience of unique Birth traditions?
Did I miss anything from this post? please feel free to comment below, I would love to hear it.
Oh wow, another thing I never heard about :o
Sure here the stork has the same meaning but there ain’t any kindsbaum. So weird how customs/ traditions differ so much within a country
So cool isn’t it? Announcing birth to the world like that. Same thing here in NL, but usually on the windows of the house, not quite on the street side. Same with graduation, birthdays.
My neighbours do the same in Switzerland and sometimes also in Alsace (eastern France). I live on the border of three countries ( France, Germany and Switzerland ) and we all love to see the storks come and nest. It is one of the rare wildlife conservation success stories in Europe.
Yes I noticed that also in Holland they have the same, but here in Bavaria I see it more often. Such a nice tradition and something unique for an asian expat like me.Thank you for visiting my page and I hope you enjoy a read. Have a great weekend!
This is so cute. Thank you for explaining this. I have seen it a couple times in Bavaria and was looking for an explanation.
Hello there, thannk you for stopping by and I am really glad that you found this Post helpful.It was a new discovery for me as well. Nowadays I´ve seen more in my neighborhood, there was quite a number of Corona Babies in my Circle..:-)
Happy New Year to you.