Fairy Tale Flop

My plan was to continue to follow the Grimm Brothers around this part of Germany with a visit this week to Kassel, home of Grimmwelt (Grimm World). But travel schedules/costs and my recent new employment (more on that in an upcoming post) made that unfeasible.

Stall of lace goods which included some rabbits

On to the backup plan, then: an exploration of the “fairy tale” of Easter. What better way to see the trappings of the secular side of this upcoming holiday than to visit an Easter market, right?

Yesterday I took the train to Nuremberg, thinking their advertised market would be the Easter equivalent of their Christmas market.

Or, at a minimum, akin to the Easter market I went to a couple of years ago in Hamburg’s Museum for Ethnology.

It was neither.

Instead, it was essentially a regular market with a slight focus on this time of year. Meaning the usual household goods, weather-appropriate clothing and gear, spices, etc. Plus linen vendors displaying their Easter-related table runners, placemats, curtains and one or two vendors with a few hand-painted eggs in addition to their regular toys or collectibles.

Hand-painted egg I found
in the main market.

I had a little better luck in the small village of hand-worked goods between the main market square and the train station, but overall my Easter-themed fairy tale outing was a bust.

Hand-painted egg I found
in the Handwerk Hof.

Except in one regard. I did learn a tiny bit more about the numerous origin tales of the egg-toting, gift-giving Easter hare, as he’s known here.

The earliest mention seems to be in the 1500s, and the primary recurring theories are as follows:

* an amalgamation of symbols of fertility and the rebirth associated with spring;

* an association formed from farmers giving hares and eggs together as spring payments to landlords; or

* a representation of the companion of the pagan spring goddess for whom Easter was named. Supposedly she had to transform her companion from a bird into a hare, but because it was originally a bird it still produced eggs.

Spending time with the Easter bunny
in Hanau in 197

A couple of other theories attempt to make the secular aspects of Easter more sacred. 

Apparently some scholars believed hares were hermaphrodites and therefore associated their “virgin” reproduction with the Virgin Mary. 

And there was an Orthodox tradition of not eating eggs during Lent, boiling them so they would keep, then decorating them to celebrate the end of the fast.

I’m all for some rebirth and celebration right now. It’s been a beautiful winter, but with last night’s snowfall trying to dampen the cheer of sprouting crocuses, I’m hoping that the Easter hare’s visit in a couple of weeks brings spring to stay for good!

Following in the Footsteps of the Brothers Grimm: Marburg

Marburg is home to Philipps University, the 9^th oldest university in Germany and the one where the Grimm Brothers studied in the early 1800s.

But the purpose of my trip to Marburg was not to wander the hallowed halls of higher education for glimpses of the Grimms. My purpose was much more playful.

Marburg has what none of the other cities I’ve visited so far have—a fairy-tale trail within the town!

The Grimm-Dich-Pfad (Grimm-You-Path) takes you on a trip from the edge of New Town Marburg up into the Old Town of Marburg, highlighting 16 locations of art installations associated with Grimm fairy tales.

An Old Town street with a gentler slope

(And when I say “up” into Old Town, I mean it. That part of the city sits high on a hill, and it’s multilevel. There are actually two elevators to take visitors from the street in New Town up to the base level of Old Town! Sadly, I did not find the elevators until after I climbed back down from Old Town.)

The Frog King

The Pfad is reported to take two hours, which I thought strange considering how close the points appeared to be on the map. 

But it is a bit of a scavenger hunt. You have to not only be on the lookout for the artwork, but you have to navigate uneven, narrow, steep streets and lots of stairs while doing it.

Two-for-one: stairs with an excerpt from
one of Jacob Grimm's letters,
and Cinderella's slipper waiting up  at the top.

The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats

The Valiant Little Tailor

Having fun with the mirror
from Snow White and
the Seven Dwarves

Snow White and Rose Red

It was one of my most enjoyable day trips to date, and definitely comes up the winner so far for fairy-tale fun with the Grimm Brothers!

Following in the Footsteps of the Brothers Grimm: Steinau an der Strasse

Last week I told a new acquaintance I was going to visit the Grimm Brothers museum in Steinau, because I love fairy tales. I'm not sure what horrified her more--the fact that she feels the Grimm fairy tales are very dark in nature, or my assertion that I found that appealing.

After visiting Hanau last year, I thought I’d try to hit a few more stops on the German Fairy Tale Route. Some stops follow in the footsteps of the brothers, some are more about atmosphere and inspiration. Steinau seemed to be both.

Once you get into the old town. 

Because I did not have such a warm and fuzzy feeling when I got off the train (and it had little to do with the -11 Celsius temperature). I quickly checked a map at the station to confirm the route to the museum. Thankfully, the landscape improved greatly as I turned in the opposite direction and headed downhill.

Unfortunately, this industrial area across the train tracks smelled even worse than it looked.

A much more picturesque view and inviting start to my adventure!

The museum is in the house where the Grimm family lived while they were in Steinau, and includes some décor and the original kitchen so you get a small sense of their lives at the time. The first floor covers the family history and the brothers’ academic and linguistic work (they wrote the first comprehensive German dictionary, a multi-volume series that is on display).

Former Grimm home in Steinau, now home to the
Brüder Grimm-Haus museum

There's also a display devoted to younger brother Ludwig Emil, a talented artist who illustrated some of the early versions of his brothers' work.

The second floor is dedicated to the fairy tales, including a Little Red Riding Hood room, a room full of fairy-tale-inspired toys and paraphernalia, and a hallway and room highlighting opera and theater adaptations.

There’s also a small theater, a room where you can hear different fairy tales while wearing a crown/headset contraption, and my favorite: a room with two walls of built-in beautifully carved and painted dioramas where you guess which fairy tale is depicted in each scene.

(Unfortunately, the museum doesn't allow the public to take pictures, but there are some photos on this site you can scroll through).

















Later, I wandered around the grounds of the city's castle and down some of the narrow streets. Then I followed a path that represents where the old city wall used to stand. I tried to imagine how the area would appear through a child’s eyes.

When I came upon the witch tower and dunking cage, I thought back to the perception of the Grimm stories as dark and sometimes gruesome. When you read the original versions, many fairy tales are not so happily-ever-after. They served many purposes, but were never originally intended as tales for children. 

Instead, they conveyed real-life lessons in fantastical scenarios, and, in the case of the Grimms' early versions, veneration of the simple, good, and natural over all else.

When we face the ugliness and fear of everyday living—either to confront it or embrace it—it no longer has such power over us. I think that’s the lesson I have always taken from the stories the Grimm Brothers gave us. 

And even though more than 200 years have passed since the first publication of those tales, I think that lesson is still quite relevant for today's world.

Interior courtyard of the castle, where there's a plaque
on one wall depicting the Grimm Brothers...