Elliott alerted me to a sign he saw advertising a fairy tale festival at a museum that is a recreation of a medieval German village. We decided to attend, and while it was very lovely and fun, it was raining quite hard and the actually storytelling was forced into tiny tents. Rather than elbow children out of the way for my own selfish interests, I opted to wander the grounds and try to talk to the staff. Language proved to be a challenge, because contrary to popular belief not everyone in Germany speaks English, especially older people who grew up in the East before the reunification. However, I did manage to learn a bit about “Schlüsselblumen”, or “key flowers”, which is the flower we call Cowslips. She explained that it was part of the folklore of fairies, elves, and woodland spirits, although I am not certain how. It is also known as the more Christianized “Himmelsschlüsselblumen”, or “Keys of Heaven Flowers”. It was a lovely, if not rainy, afternoon.
An Study of the German Forest in Song, Myth, and Folklore