May 10, 2017
History /// 'Nail Trees’ (or ‘Fracture Trees’) were trees in which, while expressing a spell, nails were wrought to cure a fracture (hernia). The fracture would heal when the bark had grown over the nails. This ritual comes from Yde (Drenthe), where it was introduced in about 1835 by the blacksmith Nijenhuis. His daughter and granddaughter tried to continue it until it fell into disuse in the 30's of the last century. In front of the house of Nijenhuis are still two of the original four linden trees; in one of them are still nail heads.
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spijkerboom https://www.geheugenvandrenthe.nl/spijkerbomen