This tradition, which is actually a rural one, is also gaining more and more followers in the city of Aachen: On the night of May 1st, birch trunks decorated with colorful ribbons are placed at the house of the person they love as a sign of love and as a symbol of the reawakening of nature in spring.

The Forestry Office in the Climate and Environment Department of the City of Aachen draws attention to the fact that "self-service" is not permitted in the forest. This is because birch trees may not be felled at the discretion of citizens. In the forest, they serve as auxiliary or pioneer trees and in parks or along roadsides, some of them have been deliberately planted.

Points of sale

This year, birch trees of various sizes will be sold commercially on Wednesday, April 30, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m:

• Parking lot at the corner of Branderhofer Weg / Forster Weg
• Forest parking lot Monschauer Straße / Pommerotter Weg, at the weather protection mushroom
• Weyern Estate, Eberburgweg
• Laurensberg, Roermonder Straße 424, at the parking lot of Restaurant Haus Linde
• Forsthaus Sief, Magespfad - here from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• On fire at the corner of Freunder Landstraße / Eilendorfer Straße
• Vondenbusch Farm, Grauenhofer Weg 157

The forestry office would like to point out that the trees cannot be reserved.

As in previous years, Misereor is offering birch trees for a donation for a good cause at its "Maypoles to go" campaign: on April 30, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the office, Mozartstraße 9.