In addition to eggs (now often artificial, to guard against vandalism), paper ribbons called "Pensala" and garlands of evergreens are woven around well-heads or formed into crowns over them.
[2] Franconian Switzerland (German: Fränkische Schweiz), so called for its rugged rock outcroppings, lies in the region of Upper Franconia in northern Bavaria.
[2] The tradition of the Osterbrunnen has also spread outside Franconia to Hesse[5] and to the Steigerwald, to the valley of the Altmühl, to Saxony, to the Palatinate, to the Saarland and to Swabia.
[8] Other dates for well decorating included Pentecost in southern Thuringia and Midsummer in Fulda; it took place at Easter in Bohemia.
[9] Nineteenth-century writers, particularly Karl Weinhold, suggested that these traditions of well cleaning and decorating were remnants of pre-Christian practices.