Fun at the Burg Nanstein Medieval Fair in Landstuhl, Germany

Our Family Names, Embellished with Japanese Mythological Symbols (2002)

It's Snowing in April

Die Weidenkirche (The Willow Tree Church)

Sowing the Seeds of Love in a Church with Roots

by Jalina Mhyana
for the Herald Union
Photographs courtesy of the Gartenschau

Imagine exchanging vows in a church constructed entirely of living willow trees bent and woven together to form a miniature gothic cathedral. On the property of Kaiserslautern’s Gartenshau, just behind Dinosaur Park, is the Weidenkirche, a fairy-tale chapel that was constructed – or planted - in 2003. “It is amazing to think of a church that is breathing and drinking, that will die if we don’t take care of it,” said Gartenschau Press Liaison Sandra Laux, “The Weidenkirche is a great example of spirituality and nature coming together.” Metaphorically speaking, every church, and every marriage, starts with a single seed that must be nurtured with prayer and devotion. Weidenkirche is the literal embodiment of the poetry we cultivate in our lives.

The Weidenkirche was inspired by the original willow tree church in Rostock, Germany, which was featured at the 2001 International Gartenschau. Construction was initiated by Klaus Lehmann, who single-handedly hauled hundreds of willow branches from nearby forests to make the project possible. Once on site, he was joined by 70 volunteers - adults and children - who read about the project in the newspaper. Together they worked approximately 6,080 hours planting, weaving, and sculpting a church that sleeps in the winter and awakens with green leaves each spring.


Herr Lehmann sees the church as an inclusive place of worship where people of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs can join together in a celebration of life. Depending upon the day, this celebration might involve prayer, Christian services, silent meditation, a poetry reading, or a classical musical performance. If you’d like to visit the Weidenkirche, there are free guided tours every other Sunday at 2 pm (call to reserve your spot in advance), but visitors are also invited to “take a rest and spend some time in contemplation” at any time, on their own.



Pastor Scott Morrison, a Texas native, has lived in Kaiserslautern since 1992, and is the Pastor of Kaiserslautern Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC). Morrison has meaningful ties to the willow church; not only did he speak the words of dedication at the Weidenkirche dedication ceremony and hold services there throughout the years, but his wife and children volunteered in the church’s construction. “Speaking the words of dedication was a personal highlight for me. It was an extraordinary experience. Attending a church service there intensifies the feeling that it is a very special place.”

To book your wedding at the Weidenkirche, call the Gartenschau ASAP, and be sure to have a back-up plan in case of inclement weather. The cost for weddings is 200 EUR, which includes use of the church as well as entry for an unlimited number of guests to the Gartenschau complex. You will need to make arrangements for a clergy member to conduct the services. Catering services are available on-site (call Gartenschau for info), but you are also welcome to bring your own food and make use of the beautiful picnic area.

If you’re looking for a fairy tale wedding or are simply in need of a calming respite from the busy world, the Weidenkirche will delight your senses and revitalize your spirit.

Letters to God at the Church in the Cliff at Idar-Oberstein, Germany

The village of Idar-Oberstein lies about 45km up the Nahe River from Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg. It's a long, twisting drive from Kaiserslautern, a little over an hour through forests and mountains. We had heard so much about this quaint village, the church built into the side of a cliff, and the one-of-a-kind jewelry created on-site, that we absolutely had to check it out. For a weekend "quickie" trip, this was a lovely adventure!

Idar-Oberstein was once a mining center for precious stones and minerals, but when the industry exhausted its resources in the 1800's, the little town became renowned for jewelry craftmanship. This is where people go to find cutting-edge gemstone jewelry.

From Oberstein's Marktplatz (where most of the unbelievably artsy and wonderful jewelry boutiques are located, tucked into little corners here and there, and spilling out into the cobblestone alleyways), 230 steps lead up to the late fifteenth-century Felsenkirche, a late Gothic church set in a grotto about halfway up a steep rockface. Amazingly, you have to walk through a cave to get to the front door of the church! What a thrill...the drip, drip, dripping of water from the rock ceiling above us, the dank smell of minerals and forest, the darkness...

Inside, the church is clean, bright, and modern. One would never guess that it was built into a cliff over 600 years ago! Imagine our delight when we found a winding walkway through a side door of the church that led us between the church and the rock face, up to the bell tower and a little wooden lookout! We could see the entire town laid out beneath us. As if to celebrate this discovery, the gigantic metal bell sang out...what serendipity!

Before we left the church, we found a little nook overlooking the cliff. On a table, what we thought was a magnificent guest book lay open inviting us to read and to leave our impressions of our visit. When I began reading the entires, mostly auf Deutsch, it became clear that this was no guest book. It was a book of prayers to god! Each entry was different; the handwriting, color of ink, length of the entries,language, and the prayers themselves were all unique and beautiful the way they were arranged on the pages like a quilt of ink and hope. You can see Lvov writing a letter to God in this picture:

The church was so exhilarating, we wanted to keep exploring despite the sheets of rain. So we found a path that leads up from the Felsenkirche to two feudal castles, from which you can see views of Oberstein and the Nahe valley. Burg Bosselstein was built in 1196. Schloss Oberstein was built in the early fourteenth century and remained intact until it sustained severe fire damage in 1855. The Schloss, or castle, seems to grow organically out of the rockface, similar to the "church in the rock." The path led through old growth forest, the stuff of fairy tales, and across little foot bridges to the Burg and Schloss. Along the way we collected leaves, heart-shaped rocks, seeds with crimson tongues just poking out, and all sorts of treasures.

Before going home we bought a few crystals (I bought some "wands" to use on pressure points for massage) and then we stopped at a little restaurant in the village for a wonderful, sleepy dinner. Our family adventures make me so happy.

Pizza Box Loom-Weaving

Jalina's "German Superstitions in the 18th and 19th Centuries" Article for the Herald Union Newspaper

German Superstition in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries:
A Fusion of Folklore and Magic in the Face of Fear

These days, we don’t often worry about making ourselves invisible to demons, or wonder how to ward off the “evil eye.” We’re more likely concerned with global warming and finding a good off-base vet. If we lived in Germany three hundred years ago, however, our priorities would have been very different.

In the 1700’s, Europe was still reeling from the disastrous effects of the black plague that decimated one-third of the population. Scientists and clergy were rendered helpless in the face of such inexplicable devastation. In a world where prayer seemed futile and science was a fledgling art, people turned to homemade quasi-religious talismans as a balm for their fears.

The use of protective talismans flourished in the cities of Heidelberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Stuttgart, Baden-Baden, Mannheim, and Karlsruhe. It isn’t surprising that superstition would be so heavily concentrated in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany, home of the Brothers Grimm. The region was heavily steeped in a rich folkloric heritage rife with fictitious beasts, witches, and goblins.

At the Criminal Justice Museum in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, visitors can view the distinctive amulets worn by townspeople in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. These meticulously crafted curios are called “breverl,” meaning “little letter” in German. Breverl offered a magic shield against vulnerability in an era when many people still believed in witches and the potency of the evil eye.

The Museum der Kulturen of Basel explains that breverl are “a kind of spiritual writ of protection. This conglomerate amulet was either worn like a necklace, fixed to a belt, attached to a rosary or sewn into a piece of clothing. It contained a mixture of magical and religious symbols and objects derived from European 'animism' or from Christian folk beliefs.”

When a breverl is unfolded, a miniature altar of sorts is exposed—a collage-like assemblage of holy/magical symbols and miniature printed pictures of Mother Mary and Jesus, usually acquired at the site of a holy pilgrimage. Also glued inside the breverl are numerous fetishistic objects or materials such as clay (from a spiritual place), the hair of loved ones, metal foil, herbs, chips of saints’ bones, a piece of red cloth or paper, and coral.

Gold foil was included as a blanket protection from all evils, silver foil was specifically used as a safeguard against poison, red paper or fabric was used for protection against evil, and a dried, pressed cutting of fern was believed to make one invisible to demons!

Humans have always been compelled to explain the world through mythology, religion, and science. These explanations, however erroneous, have made mankind feel safe in an unpredictable world. Stories give us something to believe in and make us feel as though we have control over fate.

Even today, in our modern world, we grapple with the same existential questions our forebears puzzled over. We try to make sense of things in the midst of war, honor killings, and cloning, while cutting-edge technology and scientific discoveries perpetually remodel old paradigms. Who’s to say that our beliefs won’t seem silly three hundred years from now?

The next time you bring visitors to a local castle, why not tell them about the fascinating history of the breverl and its palliative effects on mankind’s fears over the years? They’re bound to snip a little piece of fern on the castle grounds as a poetic reminder of humanity’s perennial struggle for survival.

Butterfly Necklace for Lvov's Birthday

Akychame and Lvov Have Had their Portraits Sketched in Tokyo, Waikiki, Afghanistan (the artist worked from a photograph), Germany, and London