The sale of Christmas trees is also in full swing on the other side of the border. But things are different there, as a visit to Bunderhee shows.
Anyone who crosses the border at Bad Nieuweschans can quickly reach Bunderhee. A small village where it is raining heavily this morning. It is quiet and peaceful, but cars drive back and forth at one farm. It’s not just the crowds that stand out there. The eye is immediately drawn to the many Christmas trees with bows and numbered labels that stand in the large field at the farm. Weihnachtsbäume as far as the eye can see.
For decades
Harm-Jan Koets and his wife Marianne are the residents of this farm. They have been selling Christmas trees here for decades, together with their brother-in-law Hans-Hermann Sonnenberg. They farm most of the year, but currently it’s all about the Christmas trees.
“Customers come here from all over the region,” says Koets in his barn. “How many pine trees do we sell? I estimate at least a thousand. And yes, many customers reserve a tree and leave it in the field first. We put a label on it so we know who it belongs to. They will pick it up shortly before Christmas. That has everything to do with German tradition.”
On December 24
The tradition that dictates that the tree be planted on December 24, op Heiligenabend , is placed in the living room and decorated, after which the gifts are distributed. A Christmas tree that shines all its lights in the living room at the end of November and beginning of December, as happens so often on the Groningen side of the border? No, you rarely see that in Ostfriesland. “More people also put the tree down here a little earlier, but usually not,” says Marianne.
Sönke Buss is the next customer they have to help. He lives near Bunderhee and is picking up his Christmas tree this morning. “But that doesn’t mean that I immediately put it in my living room,” he emphasizes. “I will put it in my garden in the coming days and it will come indoors on December 24.”
A family affair
Outside, in the field with the reserved and labeled trees, brother-in-law Hans-Hermann Sonnenberg makes an inspection tour. Selling Christmas trees and planting new ones so that there is always stock, it has been part of his life for several decades. “In fact, that of the whole family, we have all been busy selling these weeks.” He points to a tree that bears a label with the number 259. “We know who the buyer is based on the number and we have his details.”
Buyers will come to pick up their trees next week and it will be much busier than normal here. “From the trees that remain, I choose one myself. Yes, I’m a traditionalist too. I’ll put it in the room on December 24 and decorate it. And shortly after Christmas he leaves again. Roman Catholics leave it in place longer, but Ostfriesland is not a Catholic area.”
A solemn morning
Horst and Helga Ebens are real East Frisians. An elderly couple from Leer who drove to Bunderhee today to choose their Christmas tree. A solemn morning for both. They find a tree in the barn, because there is also stock there that has already been taken from the field. “We’ll take him straight away, put him in the garden for a while and then put him in the room before Christmas,” says Mrs Ebens.
Speaking a little softer, she then admits that they are committing a small breach of tradition. “Given our age, it takes more time to put the tree inside and decorate it. It’s too much to do that on the 24th. That’s why we do it a day earlier.”