Bridegroom oak
The bridegroom's oak is an oak near the forester's house Dodau in the Dodauer Forst, near Eutin in Schleswig-Holstein . For a long time it was the only tree in the world with its own mailing address and brings people willing to marry in contact via a dead mailbox .
nature
According to tradition, the tree is now over 500 years old. It has a circumference of 5 meters, is 25 meters high and 30 meters wide in the crown. The area around the oak is protected by a wooden fence, except for the entrance.
Legend and tradition
There is a legend about the planting of the oak, according to which a Celtic prince's son tied to a tree was freed by a Christian girl here in the forest. In gratitude for this he planted the oak. However, experts believe that this legend was invented by Christian missionaries to reinterpret the pagan belief in oaks. The church still celebrates a popular Whit Monday service at the oak. An interesting custom is also to be observed here from time to time: if a girl walks around the tree three times in silence and without laughing under the light of the full moon and thinks of her lover, she will get married within a year.
The tree got its name from a marriage under its branches. On June 2, 1891, Miss Ohrt (daughter of the Dodauer head forester) and Mr Schütte-Felsche (chocolate manufacturer) got married under this oak. The bride's father was initially against this connection and forbade contact, so that the two lovers secretly exchanged love letters through a knothole in this tree. After the forester had to realize that he was powerless against love, he gave up his resistance and thus made the wedding possible under this oak tree.
Location and postal address
The oak is located off a forest path that branches off from the B 76 towards Plön at the end of Eutin. A small guide draws your attention to this.
Based on the previous history and the word of mouth that followed, it turned out that numerous people from all over the world wrote to this oak tree in order to possibly find a reader there who would take care of the writer. In 1927 a ladder had to be hired as a result, and the post office began delivering letters here.
The oak was therefore given its own address. With today's postcode it is Bridegroom Oak, Dodauer Forst, 23701 Eutin .
Marriage initiation
From Monday to Saturday between 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., the postman deposits up to 40 letters from home and abroad in the 30 cm knothole located at the top of a ladder at a height of three meters. The letters contain the wishes and hopes of the letter writers. Postal secrecy does not apply to this public mailbox. Anyone who likes can read these letters and / or take them with them and answer them. Both men and women read the letters.
In the meantime, more than a hundred marriages have been concluded as a result of the correspondence and contact initiated via the oak . There are also connections with partners from other (federal) states. After a television broadcast in the 1990s, the postman at the Bräutigamseiche was contacted directly by a woman from Saarland who married her. A participant in a spa stay in Schleswig-Holstein found a letter from a compatriot from North Rhine-Westphalia and found her.
The oak itself has been “ married ” since April 25, 2009 , to the second tree in Germany, which has its own postal address, the sky spirit chestnut .
Reports and letters
Mongolia radio as well as Italian and Japanese television have already reported on the bridegroom's oak. The German reading book of the Goethe Institute also reports on the tree. Post also comes from Africa, China, Japan, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, South America and Taiwan.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Eutin Tourist Info: Eutin. Bridegroom oak. A tree with its own address. Leaflet. Eutin, approx. 2010.
- ↑ a b c Irene Jung: An oak tree to fall in love with. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, May 25, 2013, p. 6.
- ↑ a b A tree connects lonely hearts. In: Schleswig-Holsteiner Zeitungsverlag GmbH & Co KG (ed.): Wann Wo Was, April to October 2011 edition, p. 13.
literature
- Ernst Klerch: The bridegroom's oak in the Dodauer forest . In: Jahrbuch für Heimatkunde - Eutin ( Heimatverband Eutin ); Eutin 1981 (pp. 102-104)
- Tourist info Eutin: Eutin. Bridegroom oak. A tree with its own address. Leaflet. Eutin, approx. 2010.
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 8 ′ 10.5 ″ N , 10 ° 33 ′ 20.9 ″ E