萬顆復活節彩蛋裝飾德國果樹

You thought Easter eggs don't grow on trees? Check out Volker Kraft's garden in Eastern Germany, and think again.

Kraft's apple sapling sported just 18 eggs when he first decorated it for Easter in 1965. The number increased year by year; and by last year, the sturdy tree was festooned with 9,800 eggs, artfully decorated with everything from sequins to sea shells.

This time, Kraft has reached 10,000 — and he says he's stopping there.

"There will be no increase because I do not have storage capacity anymore," the 76-year-old retiree says. "I would have to sleep with the eggs otherwise."

Kraft's tree in the town of Saalfeld has become a tourist attraction, drawing thousands of people every year. Decorating trees with colored eggs at Easter is a tradition in Germany — though usually on a smaller scale.

Kraft started with plastic eggs decades ago, but later switched to real eggs and enlisted his family's help in blowing out the insides of the eggs and painting them.

"You can now see here what develops after 47 years, when the tree grows, the wife blows the eggs and the children start painting," he says.你認爲復活節彩蛋不會長在樹上？來看看德國東部福爾克爾•克拉夫特家的花園，然後再想想吧。

克拉夫特在1965年開始在復活節裝飾這棵蘋果樹，最開始上面只掛了18顆彩蛋。但是經過逐年累積，到去年爲止，這棵強壯的果樹上已經裝飾了9800顆彩蛋，上面巧妙地裝飾了各種飾物，從亮片到海貝殼應有盡有。

這次，克拉夫特家的這棵樹上的彩蛋已經達到一萬顆，而且他表示不會再繼續掛了。

這位76歲的退休老人說：“我不會再繼續掛了，因爲我沒有精力了。否則我就得躺在雞蛋上睡大覺了。”

薩爾費爾德鎮的這棵彩蛋樹已經成爲了旅遊景點，每年吸引着數萬人前來。在德國，復活節用彩蛋裝飾樹是一項風俗，但一般只在小部分地區流行。

數十年前，克拉夫特開始用塑料彩蛋裝飾這棵果樹，但隨後開始用真雞蛋，並在家人的幫助下清空雞蛋的蛋清和蛋黃，在雞蛋殼上繪製圖案。

他說：“你可以看見47年後樹變成什麼樣子，當樹逐漸長大時，妻子清空雞蛋，孩子們開始繪彩蛋。”