Photo Gallery Germany's Eggscellent Easter
Half of all Germans consider Easter to be a religious holiday, but many younger people view it primarily as an important tradition and day for families.
Meant to be the first dab of spring color, Easter eggs are often hung from trees all over Germany.
A young girl stands beneath a tree decorated with 9,500 Easter eggs at a family home in Saalfeld, Germany.
Volker Kraft, a pensioner in Saalfeld, which is located in the eastern German state of Thuringia, spent two weeks decorating the tree with his wife. It's been a family tradition for the couple every year since 1965.
The word Easter itself comes from the Germanic goddess Eostre, who was associated with spring and fertility. It is said that her earthly symbol was the rabbit -- meaning even chocolate bunnies are linked to pagan traditions.
Andreas Rentz/ Getty Images
More closely related to the common egg-dyeing tradition are the extremely intricate hand-painted Sorbian eggs. The Sorbs, a Slavic minority in eastern Germany, have held fast to their traditions, including egg painting.
Easter egg painting is a strong part of the Sorbian tradition and visual elements within the paintings are meant to ward off evil. Many of the Sorbs still speak Sorbian, a language closely related to Polish and Czech.
Here, Sorbian motives are displayed for sale at an Easter egg market on March 21 in Schleife, Germany.
Egg painting is also popular in other parts of the country: Here, a woman in the northwestern German state of Schleswig-Holstein displays two ostrich eggs decorated for Easter.
One of Germany's oddest Easter traditions is the Easter Fire Wheel custom in the town of Lügde in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Bundled straw is attached to a wooden wheel that is then set alight on the evening of Easter Sunday and pushed down a hill. The whole rig can weigh up to 300 kilograms.
A holiday message is inscribed on the wheel and it is sent hurdling down what locals call "Easter Hill."
The spectacle attracts several thousand visitors each year.
According to legend, if the wheel is still standing when it reaches the bottom of the hill, it fortells a good harvest for the year.
In the town of Thannhausen, a worker moves a palette with stacks of cooked and colored Easter eggs from Bavaria's largest producer, for delivery to supermarkets in preparation for Easter egg hunts.
And Easter celebrations aren't just limited to people. Here at Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo, baby elephant Jamuna Toni plays with an oversized toy Easter egg in his enclosure.
SPIEGEL ONLINE International wishes its readers a Happy Easter!
