TDeep and widely ramified roots allow the majestic linden tree to withstand strong storms. The sturdy tree knocks out easily on trunk and stick. This is how he can reach old age. Specimens that are 400 to 500 years old are not uncommon. The linden tree from Schenklengsfeld, a village near Bad Hersfeld, is said to be over 1000 years old. Linden trees are venerated in many places because they are ascribed special powers. In the past, numerous deals were negotiated under the sweeping branches of old court linden trees. The youth danced under the village linden tree and old age rested. In the German Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, linden trees were planted to celebrate the birthdays of the rulers, anniversaries of government and military triumphs.
The tall tree with heart-shaped, sawn leaves, fragrant flowers and a mighty crown has always brought people multiple benefits. Already the Greeks and Romans differentiated the summer (Tilia platyphyllos), the winter (Tilia cordata) and the silver linden (Tilia tomentosa). The soft, light-colored wood, which is easy to work with and often has a reddish tinge, was used to make boxes and chests, but also mugs and writing boards. It was not only popular with sculptors in the late Gothic period. The bark was then used to cover roofs. Skillful hands made ropes and bags, mats and baskets from the bast, until it was replaced by linen and hemp. Beekeepers have always valued the linden tree as a pasture for bees, the flowers of which provide plenty of nourishment, and a sweat-inducing tea is made from dried linden flowers, which helps with colds.
Lovers’ bed
As one can read in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the old couple Philemon and Baucis were transformed into two trees: Philemon into an oak, Baucis into a linden tree. Walther von der Vogelweide set up the lovers’ bed in the great outdoors under a linden tree. And after his suicide in the churchyard, Goethe’s Werther wanted to be buried in the shade of two linden trees. Love and linden tree also come together in Franz Schubert’s Lied vom Lindenbaum.
Who does not know it? The main melody is catchy, the major key, the simple triplets and scales have made it a popular folk song: “At the fountain in front of the gate, / There is a linden tree; / I dream ‘in his shadow / Many a sweet dream. ”The song is part of the“ Winterreise ”, a famous cycle whose poems Wilhelm Müller wrote and which was influenced by the romantics Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim and Novalis. Born in Dessau, he was an ardent Philhellene and supported the Greek struggle for independence with his pen. As a man of letters he was not particularly valued by his contemporaries, but achieved immortal fame when Franz Schubert set his poems to music. The poet and composer, who both died young – Müller in 1827 at 32, Schubert in 1828 at 31 – never got to know each other personally.
The “Winterreise” consists of 24 songs, the fifth of which tells about the “linden tree”. Here, too, as on the entire trip, the lyrical subject is driven by pain: “I have to hike today / Past in the dead of night / I closed my eyes in the dark / closed my eyes.” The hiker cuts into the bark of the linden tree “many a sweet word”; in “Joy and Sorrow” he is drawn to the tree again and again: “And its branches rustled, / As if they were calling to me: Come to me, journeyman, / Here you will find your rest!” His tormented soul longs after death. He has already found the ideal place for his final rest. Cold winds blow into his face, and finally his hat flies off his head. He does not turn around, but he knows about the goal of his journey, which will not lead him back to his beloved, but will put an end to his suffering in the world: “Now I am many an hour / Far from that place / And always listen ‘I rustle: / You would find peace there! “
Many have heard the rustling of the linden tree, including Thomas Mann. In the “Magic Mountain”, Hans Castorp hums this song to himself when the “World Festival of Death”, the First World War, breaks out. Today nobody will use the linden tree as a symbol of a romantic death cult, and the names of loved ones are hardly ever carved into its bark. The Austrian tree of the year 2021 has meanwhile become a sign of hope. Because it seems as if linden trees – especially the winter and silver linden – defied climate change, as they react flexibly to the different challenges that the soil, air quality and temperature pose to them.
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