Mainz "Tree of Liberty"

A liberty tree is a tree decorated with ribbons and a cap, which is usually placed in the market place or another central place for ceremonious reasons. Liberty trees first appeared during the French Revolution (1789). Decorated in the French national colors of blue, white, and red (the colors of freedom, equality, and brotherhood) and with the Jacobin cap, the distinctive symbol of the French revolutionaries, the liberty tree became the political symbol of the revolution. Especially during the time of the Republic of Mainz and the Hambach Festival, such trees of liberty were planted everywhere in what is Rhineland-Palatinate today.