Quali a veder de' fioretti del melo
che del suo pome li angeli fa ghiotti
e perpetue nozze fa nel cielo,
Pietro e Giovanni e Iacopo condotti
e vinti, ritornaro a la parola
da la qual furon maggior sonni rotti,
e videro scemata loro scuola
così di Moisè come d'Elia,
e al maestro suo cangiata stola;
tal torna' io, e vidi quella pia
sovra me starsi che conducitrice
fu de' miei passi lungo 'l fiume pria.
E tutto in dubbio dissi: "Ov'è Beatrice?".
Ond'ella: "Vedi lei sotto la fronda
nova sedere in su la sua radice.
|
Just as, when brought to see the blossoms of
the apple tree whose fruit the angels crave
and makes an endless marriage-feast in heaven,
Peter and John and James were overpowered
and, coming to themselves at that same word
by which slumbers more profound were broken,
They saw their company dwindle away
when Moses and Elijah disappeared,
and viewed their Master's raiment changed again:
So I came to myself and saw that same
compassionate woman standing over me
who first had led my steps along the shore.
And all perplexed, I asked, "Where is Beatrice?"
She answered, "See her seated on the roots
of that tree there with its fresh foliage.
|
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THE GOLDEN APPLE:
The golden apple represents discord, since its presentation by Paris to Aphrodite
in a divine beauty contest led indirectly to the Trojan War.
Freya, the Norse
goddess of love and magic, gave apples of immortality from her garden to
rejuvenate the gods.
THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS
.jpg)
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640),
The Judgment of Paris (1639), Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
At the wedding of the Greek goddess
Thetis,
Eris (strife) presented a golden apple
to be awarded to the fairest woman present. The goddesses Hera, Athena, and
Aphrodite all claimed the prize. Zeus appointed Paris, the son of Priam (King of Troy),
as judge in the beauty contest.
Paris chose Aphrodite, who promised to reward him with
the love of any woman he chose, and described the beauty of Helen, the wife of Menelaus,
king of Sparta. Paris abducted Helen, and brought her back to Troy, an action which
precipitated the Trojan War, in which he was killed. The myth conveys the idea that
physical beauty, though alluring, can ultimately be destructive.
— David Fontana, The Secret Language of Symbols
A Visual Key to Symbols & Their Meanings
Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1993, pp. 107, 127
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APPLE:
In Celtic legends apples appear as the fruit of the Otherworld. More specifically,
they are associated with the mythical Avalon, the 'Island of Apples'. The otherworldly
apple tree was also said to have been the source of the Silver Bough. In Norse
tradition the tree bearing the golden apples of immortality was protected by the
goddess Idun, whence they were stolen by Loki. The gods began to age, but they
recovered the apples just before they were overcome by senility and death.
In alchemy, when the alchemist is represented eating an apple at the end of
the Great Work, he enjoys the fruit of immortality.
The golden Apples of the Hesperides were a wedding gift to Zeus
and Hera from Gaia, the primordial earth goddess. The precious fruit was guarded
by a snake or a dragon. Herakles' eleventh labour was to steal the apples, and
although he was successful, he followed Athena's instructions and returned them.
Eris, "Discord', proffered an apple as a prize for the fairest among Hera, Athena,
and Aphrodite, asking the shepherd Paris to act as a judge. Paris chose Aphrodite,
bribed by her promise of Helen of Troy as his reward. The Trojan War was the
consequence, and so in Greek myth, apples are associated with temptation,
transgression, and the acquisition of success and power.
Jews and Christians also consider that apples symbolize temptation,
as well as forbidden wisdom. They are central to the story of Adam and Eve's
temptation by the Serpent and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Since the apple
is a pagan emblem of immortality, and the serpent a symbol of ancient wisdom, and
both were associated with goddesses, this story— which blames woman for the
Fall after she was tempted by the serpent with an apple (also a symbol of love)—
may have been an attempt to demonize powerful symbols of the old religions which the
Jews were struggling to replace. (The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, from which
Adam and Eve ate the fruit, is sometimes considered to have been a fig tree—
but both trees are symbols of knowledge).
In Christian art, when Christ or the Virgin hold an apple, they are
overcoming evil, redeeming mankind from the first sin symbolized by the apple.
But the Old Testament also compares wise words to golden apples, and apples are
an ingredient of charoseth, eaten at Passover, representing the clay from
which the Israelites slaves made bricks in Egypt.
In China, apple blossom represents feminine beauty. In northern China,
the apple is a symbol of Spring. Apples are a good gift, as the word for apple
(ping) sounds similar to the word meaning peace. However, apples should not
be given to someone who is unwell, as their name also sounds similar to the word
for illness (bing).
— Rowena & Rupert Shepherd, 1000 Symbols
Thames & Hudson, London, 2002, p. 255
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APPLE:
The World-Poison: When the churning of the Milk Ocean began, the Serpent Vâsuki,
under the strain of the pulling, vomited the Visha or World-Poison. This always symbolizes
Ahankâra. From the point of view of the physical body it indicates an abnormal
secretion of some gland, as the result of an abnormal stimulation of feelings or passions...
From a fundamental point of view the World-Poison is the Ahankâra. It is at the root
of all problems, whether of the mind, of sex or of anything else. The World-Poison is
present in the Apple of the Serpent in Paradise, in the Apple of the Witch-Queen in the
story of Snow White, in the Apple of Discord, and in a number of similar symbols.
After the World-Poison had appeared on the surface of the Ocean, it was
offered by female beings to Siva, who took it and swallowed it. The Goddess Parvati,
his Consort, grasped his neck and prevented it from going down into his system. It
remained stuck in his neck, giving it a dark colour, whence Siva derived the name
Nilkantha or "Blue-necked One". (pp. 18-19)
The Fruits: The Latin "pomum", meaning "fruit", means primarily "apple".
Apple symbolism has already been referred to in connection with its unfavorable aspect.
The apple, however, only becomes a fruit of Death in the hands of the Ahankâra.
It is primarily a fruit of Immortality. Later the Golden Apples of the Hesperides and
the Apples of Life of the Goddess Idunn of Northern Europe will be dealt with.
Pomona was married to Vertumnus. Their Festival, the Vertumnalia, was celebrated
in October. On Libra follows the Water-House of Scorpio, ruled by Mars. Vertumnus
is an aspect of Mars as God of Autumn. We saw before that in his other House, Aries,
Mars is God of Spring. Vertumnus is represented with a pruning knife in his right
and a basket of fruits, or alternatively, a bludgeon, in his left hand. The bludgeon
appears only— like the birch of St. Nicolas— when there are no spiritual
fruits to be harvested. The Martian knife is always there, to be used either for the
cutting away of decaying or dead branches, the "purging of the vine", or for the
harvesting of the fruits. Concerning the Sixth Day, comprising Scorpio and Sagittarius,
the Day of the attainment of Manhood, God said: "Be fruitful" (Genesis 1.28),
and "Behold, I have given you... every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed, to you it shall be for meat" (Genesis 1.29). True Manhood brings forth
Fruits and lives on Fruits alone. And the Animals should live on "green herbs",
the form of life of the Element Water, the emotional plane. But the Beasts that hunt
in the Field of the Fallen Man prey on each other and live on fresh— against
the Word of God— and some are even man-eaters. (pp. 42-43)
Killing of the Hydra: It is significant that the name Herakles,
Latinized as Hercules, means "renowned through Hera". Zeus's Consort represents
Mother-Goddess of the Moon-Sphere. Her garments were said to shine like the summer
sea and she wore jewels like the stars of heaven. Over her forehead she wore a veil.
The Stars and Veils of Maya, of Moon-Sphere, are deeply connected. She was
said to be fairest of all the Goddesses, even fairer than Venus.
Looking at the starry heavens, the constellation of the Serpens stretches
from Scorpio past Sagittarius towards the Pole Star. In a straight line between the
Serpens and the Pole Star are the constellations Hercules and Draco the Dragon. Draco
is nearest the Pole Star, which symbolizes to Pole of Manifestation. It is not the
Dragon of the Tree of Life. Hercules will meet that when in another of his Twelve
Labours he will obtain the Golden Apples from the Garden of the Hesperides.
The constellation Hercules is exactly midway between Serpens and Draco.
It is the task of the Solar Hero, on his way to the Immovable Centre and Pole of Being,
to master the Serpent, the Hydra and the Dragon guarding the Treasure and the Tree of Life,
both of which form aspects of that Centre of Being. The position of the constellation
Hercules in the night-sky shows the supreme importance which is traditionally given to
the transfiguration of the Serpent Power. The constellation of the Hydra is found in
the heavens on the opposite side, stretching out from the South of Cancer and
Leo to Virgo. That is the stage of Height of Manifestation, and at that phase
the Power of the Hydra is at its greatest. (p. 78)
— G.H. Mees, The Book of Battles
N. Kluwer, Deventer, Netherlands, 1953, pp. 18-19, pp. 42-43, p. 78
Braga and Idunn: Braga was represented as a venerable old man with
a silver beard. Playing on his Golden Harp and singing the Song of Life, he shows some
resemblance to Narada Rishi. His Consort was Idunn, Goddess of Immortal Youth, who was
said to be the most beautiful of the Goddesses. She preserved the Apples of Life
in a Golden Vessel, and daily gave them to eat to the Gods, therewith granting them Immortality.
Her name is related to those of the Goddess of the Tradition in the Greek "Athena" and
the Sumerian form "Adueni". She corresponds more particularly to the Greek Hebe, who was
a form of the Goddess of the Tradition who gave the Nectar and Ambrosia to the Olympian
Gods. The Apples of Life are also known in Greek mythology. The golden vessel
in which the Asa kept the Apples is another form of the Kumbham or Holy Grail
or Wine Cup of Aquarius.
Undoubtedly "Braga" is one with the Hindu "Brahma". Both are Lord of the
Tradition. Of Brahma tradition records that he is Adikavi or "the First Poet" and that
his Sakti is his tongue. Braga is God of Poetry (of the Tradition) and it is said that
Runes are imprinted on his tongue. Both are represented with a venerable beard. Of Braga
it is said that this symbolizes the ripe existence of old age. His marriage with Idunn
stresses the immortality of youth, always connected with the Inspiration of traditional
poetry. One of Brahma's symbols is the Lota with the Water of the River of Life; it is
a reflection of the Kumbha of Aquarius. Braga's Sakti owned the Golden Vessel with the
Apples of Life. (p. 89)
Fetching of the Golden Apples from the Garden of Hesperides: The
Eleventh Labour of Herakles was the fetching of the Golden Apples from the
Garden of Hesperides. It refers to Aquarius. On the occasion of the marriage of Zeus
and Hera, all the Gods brought marriage-presents. Gaea, the Earth, caused a wonderful
Tree to grow on the shore of the World-Ocean, full of Golden Apples. Four Nymphs,
called the Hesperides, Daughter of Night, were made to watch the Tree which was guarded
by a terrible-looking Dragon with a hundred heads, called Ladon, which never closed its
eyes in sleep. Herakles was told by Eurusheus to get three Golden Apples for him.
The marriage of Zeus and Hera represents the Mystic Marriage, implying
the Aquarian Perfection. The present of Gaea reflects the Kingdom of Heaven of Earth.
Aquarius is Bhûr-loka and is ruled by Saturn, the God of the Element Earth. The
stage of the Mystery is both an Earth and an Ether-stage. The four Nymphs form the
emotional parallel to the four Winds and represent the Air-House of Aquarius, in the
heart of the Night-period of the Path. The hundred-headed Dragon represents "perfect"
selfishness in the state of utter soul-fragmentation, with the stress on consciousness.
As long as that is not overcome, the Treasure of Immortality cannot be obtained. The
Tree is the Tree of Life and the Garden of the Hesperides is Paradise. In Genesis 2.8,
the Garden is "eastward in Eden" and the word "Hesper" means the direction of the west.
The reason for this apparent contradiction is that Genesis (as also Heralkes) looks at
Paradise as the direction of the Sunrise, issuing from the beginning of the Path,
whereas the Greek tradition embodied in the word Hesperides looks at the Garden as the
direction of the Sunset, leading to the end of the Path. (pp. 203-204)
The Fruit of the Tree of Life: "He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches: To him that wins the victory, will I give
fruit from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." He that
overcometh is he who, instead of falling further, returns unto the Spiritual Pole,
which is symbolically represented by the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden.
This symbolism is emotional. The Fruits of the Tree of Life correspond to the Apples
of Immortality of Idunn and the Golden Apples of the Garden of Hesperides,
which we have encountered before in the stage of Aquarius. An apple is an
emotional symbol, but as food it has reference to the lower mind. It corresponds to
the Bread of Life and the Ambrosia or Amrita, with the difference that bread is a
predominantly rational symbol. (p. 224)
— G.H. Mees, The Book of Stars
N. Kluwer, Deventer, Netherlands, 1954, p. 89, pp. 203-204, p. 224
*********************************************************************************
APPLE:
Magic apples of immortality, or of death-and-rebirth, are common to most Indo-European
mythologies. The apples are usually dispensed by the Goddess to a man, hero, ancestor,
or god. The Norse Goddess Idun kept all the gods alive with her magic apples. Influenced
by this idea, Norsemen buried apples with the dead to serve as resurrection charms.
Mother Hera fed the gods on apples from the Tree of Life in her western garden of
paradise. The Irish hero Connla received a magic apple of immortality from a woman
of the Other World. King Arthur was taken by the Triple Goddess to Avalon,
the "Apple-land" of eternal life.
It seems that the famous scene of the three women, an man, and an apple,
known as Judgment of Paris, was "mistakenly deduced from the icon which showed
Heracles being given an apple-bough by the Hesperides— naked Nymph-goddess
in triad— [or] Adanus of Hebron being immortalized by the Canaanite Mother of
All Living." In similar iconography, the first man (Adam) was brought to life by the
Mother of All Living, which was one of the titles of Eve
(Genesis 3.20).
The Triple Goddess created the world in the Greek myth of Eurynome, Eurybia, and
Eurydice, three sisters ruling earth, sea, and the underworld. The three Mothers
of the World were always closely conected with apple trees in early Greek and in
Celtic myth. The Goddess became the mistress of the paradise garden and greeted
the hero Owein while she stood beside her apple tree, "which is the axis of the
world, the centre of life." The apple tree remained sacred to the Goddess in
Romanian folklore, where she appeared as "the fairy Magdalina", sitting in a
cosmic apple tree whose branches touched the sky, and whose roots reached into
the bottom of the ocean.
Much of the reverence paid to the apple arose not only from its value
as food, but also from the secret, sacred sign in its core: the pentacle, which is
revealed when the apple is transversely cut. Gypsies claimed this was the only
proper way to cut an apple, especially when it was shared between lovers before
and after sexual intercourse. At Gypsy weddings it was customary for the bride
and groom to cut the apple, revealing its pentacle, and eat half apiece. Such
marriage customs may suggest the real story behind Eve's sharing of an apple
with her spouse: an idea that developed quite apart from the biblical version,
in which there is no mention of an apple, but only of a "fruit".
In the Volsung cycle, it is the poet's wife who provides "apples of Hel",
that is, gifts from the underworld Goddess Hel, which will enable him to live under
the earth. Going down to the underworld (womb) was a common method for heroes and
poets to discover secrets of nature, and not incidentally to acquire wealth—
or, as the Gypsies called it, "earth". A 15th century Book of Lismore, copied from
earlier material, mentioned three Irish princes who had to marry three wives before
they could find their "fortunes", another form of the three Fortunae. The three wives
represented the Triple Goddess and her sacred apple trees: one in full bloom, a second
shedding the blossom, and the third covered with ripe fruit.
Apples figured prominently in the lore of magic, undoubtedly because
of their ubiquitous connections with Goddess worship. It was said that a holy name
written on an apple and eaten on three consecutive days would cure a fever. Abortion
could be procured by writing the palindromic charm sator arepo tenet opera rotas
on an apple and eating it. Apples consumed on Halloween could show a young person
the dream image of his or her future spouse; hence the bobbing-for-apples game.
Christian lore made the apple a symbol of original sin, but this never appreciably
interfered with the popularity of the fruit that could "keep the doctor away". (pp. 479-481)
PENTACLE:
The most widely revered of all esoteric symbols, the pentacle has received many
alternate names: pentalpha, pentagram, Solomon's seal, Star of Bethlehem, Three
Kings' star, wizard's star, Star of Logres, devil's sign, witch's cross, goblin's
foot, or the Druid's Foot. From this assortment of names it can be seen that the
pentacle is associated with magic, paganism, deviltry, & Christian mysticism.
.jpg)
In ancient times, the pentacle meant "life" or "health". It was
derived from the apple-core pentacle of the Earth Mother. To this day, Gypsies
cut an apple tranversely to reveal the pentacle, which they call the Star of Knowledge.
The pentacle was sacred to the Celtic death-goddess Morgan and was carried in her honor
on a blood-red shield, according to the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight.
It is still the sign of the earth element in the Tarot suit of pentacles, which
evolved into the modern suit of diamonds. With one point downward, the pentacle
was supposed to represent the head of the Horned God. (p. 72)
ALCHEMICAL ROSE:
The red and white rose was adopted by alchemists as a symbol of the vas spirituale,
the sacred womb from which the filius philosophorum would be born. This was
an ancient female symbol of the virgin daughter (white) within the mother (red),
formerly applied to such images as Kore/Demeter and Mary/Eve. The conglomerate rose
was similar to the apple (the mother and the fruit), containing its
five-lobed core (the daughter and the flower). Symbolism was drawn entirely from
female creative powers. White and red were the sacred colors of the Virgin and
Mother, respectively. In male-centered systems, however, the black of the destroying
Crone was pointedly omitted. (p. 422)
TREE OF LIFE:
Many myths speak of the Tree of Life or World Tree that was somehow involved in the
creation of the universe, the origin of humanity, and the divine gifts of nourishment
and civilized skills. The Maya called it First Tree of the World, or Green Tree of
Plenty, growing in their won territory on the Yucatan peninsula. Those who faithfully
kept the rituals would go after death to the paradise shaded by the First Tree. It was
represented in the form of a cross, and the savior-god was crucified on it as Our Lord
of the Tree. His head wore a tree crown and his arms ended in branches.
The Indo-Europeans in general, the vision of paradise included the sacred
tree with a spring at its root, like the obviously female rose-apple tree of Jambu Island,
the Fairy Tree of Celtic tradition, or the Goddess's life-giving apple trees in Avalon,
Hesperides, or Eden. It is possible that the whole Eden myth was falsely deduced from an
icon showing the Goddess, personifying the Tree of Life, handing her apple to the first
man while her serpent of wisdom twined in the branches.
(pp. 472-473)
— Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects
HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, 1988
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APPLE ETYMOLOGY:
In one version Cindrella's fairy visitors emerge from a vase, and from this same vase they
produce her exquisite dresses. According to another version wherein Cinderella gets her
clothing from an apple tree, she says:
"Little golden apple tree,
With my vase of gold have I watered thee,
With my spade of gold have I digged thy mould;
Give me your lovely clothes, I pray,
And take my ugly rags away." (p. 252)
It apparently struck the ancient fancy that anything round or circular was like the Orb of Day.
Thus the Lithuanians called an apple obolys, which is simply obolus, a little ball...
Among the ancient Mexicans the word on served to denote anything circular. The Celtic for
circle is kib— ak ib, the "great orb", and for round, krenn—
ak ur en, the "great fire sun"... In accordance with this rule the ob of the Russian,
Gaelic, Irish, and Lithuanian "apple" becomes the ap of the English apple,
the German apfel, the Icelandic epli [This etymology of "Apple" is confirmed by
the French pomme, i.e. op om, the Sun Ball; also by pomolo, the name for a
giant orange. The word orange resolves into or-an-je, the golden everlasting Sun].
The knowledge that ap is equal to ob enables us to reduce the name Apollo
into Ap ol lo, the 'orb of the Lord Everlasting'.
Ap must be the root of the Greek apo, meaning "far away", and it may also be equated
with our up and upwards, both meaning towards the orb: it is also the foundation of
optimus, the best, and of optimism or faith in the highest. "High" may similarly be
equated with towards the I or Eye. Country people pronounce up "oop", and the child's
hoop may have been so named because it was a circle like the Sun. Op is not only the
root of hope and happy but it is also the foundation of optics, optical, and
other terms relating to the eye or eyeball. The word eye, phonetically "I", may have arisen
from the fact that the eye is a ball like the Sun, and this idea runs through the etymology of
"eye" in many languages. Ops or Opis was one of the names of Juno, the "unique, ever-existent O",
or, as she was sometimes known, Demeter, the "Mother of brilliant splendour". Ops was the giver
of ops, riches, whence the word opulent; plenty is fundamentally
opulenty, and the Latin for plenty is copia. A synonym for
plenty is abundance. The syllable Op, meaning Eye, occurs in many place-names,
notably in Ethiopa and Europe. Cox translates Europe as meaning "the splendour of morning",
and the word is alternatively rendered "the broad-eyed". But the two syllables of Europe
are simply a reversed form of the English surname Hooper, the Eye or "Hoop of Light"—
the Sun. (pp. 303-305)
— Harold Bayley, The Lost Language of Symbolism
Chapter X: The Star of the Sea (p. 252)
Chapter XII: The Eye of the Universe (p. 304)
Citadel Press, New York (first edition, London 1912)
MORE APPLE ETYMOLOGY:
The Dome of St. Paul's may be described as the very apple of the Eye of London,
and surmounting the Dome of the new Old Bailey is a five-rayed figure of Maat or, as
she is now named, Justice.
To the north of Thurso is Orkney Island named Pomona, "sole Father", and the principla town
on Pomona is named Op. North of Pomona, a word meaning apple in Latin, is a small island
named Papa Westray— an extended form of Papaeus, on of the names of Jupiter. [The root
apple in such English place-names as Appleby, Apple-Cross, Appledram, Appleton, etc.,
may often be equated to Apollo]. (p. 7)
The heroine of The Song of Solomon is described as having been raised under
an apple-tree. In mystic literature, the apple-tree figures frequently as the Tree of Life,
and in fairy-tale, the apple appears as the giver of immortal youth. Cinderella, according
to an Armenian version of the story, knocks off the crown of a certain King Ambanor by the
dexterous throw of a diamond apple, and when the King, full of vexation, picks up the
diamond apple, "the face of a most lovely girl looks forth at him as from a mirror."
There s a Slav story relating to an apple-tree "that bears the fruit of
the everlasting youth, and one of whose apples eaten by a man, even though he be dyng,
will cure him and make him young again." Something having gone awry with this apple-tree
so that neither fruit nor flower will grow upon it, a messenger is despatched to the Palace
of the Sun to ascertain the cause of the misfortune. When the weary Apollo returns from his
daily round and is resting sleepily upon his Mother's lap, the following dialogue takes place:
"Mother, what do you want?"
"Nothing, my Son, nothing; I was dreaming. In my dream, I saw a large town, the name of which
I have forgotten. And there grew an apple-tree, the fruit of which had the power to make
the old young again. A single apple eaten by an old man would restore to him the vigour
and freshness of youth. For twenty years this tree has not borne fruit. What can be done to make
it fruitful?"
"The means are not difficult. A snake hidden among (p. 251)
According to the Mosaic account of Creation, the Garden of Eden was protected by
cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life
(Genesis 3.24). Cherubims as here mentioned is not another name for angels, but the
Cherub of the writer of Genesis— like the Cherub of Assyria, the Cherb of Babylon, and the
Cherb of the entire Orient— was a fabulous winged-animal akin to a Griffin or Gryphon.
The Mosaic idea of the protective Cherubim may be equated with the Persian conception of the
innumerable attendants of the Holy One keeping watch against the attempts of Ahriman to destroy
the tree Hom, situated in the region of bliss called Heden. According to Greek legend, the
apple-bearing tree in the Garden of Hesperides was guarded by a Serpent or Dragon.
The Hindoo sacred Mount Meru, whose summit towered into the golden light of Heaven, is said
to have been guarded by a dreadful Dragon. The Chinese tell of a mysterious garden where grows
a tree bearing apples of immortality guarded by a Dragon, and this winged Serpent—
the national emblem of the Celestial Empire— is regarded as the symbol of Infinite Intelligence
keeping ward over the Tree of Knowledge.
In the figure herewith a Dragon-guarded Tree is subscribed with the word
Brasica, fundamentally equivalent to Persica, a peach. The Persica was the
Chinese Tree of Life, and among the Gnostics there was a sacred rite called Persica.
The initiates into this Mystery were termed "Keepers of the Fruits", and, according to
Porphyry, the “symbolically signified 'the power of Keeping or Preserving.'”
The word Persica is evidently allied to Jasper, a Radiant and Perfect Serpent,
whom they identified with Jesus Christ or Sophia; and the antagonism of "the Lord" with
"leviathan that crooked serpent" is one of the themes of Isaish: "In that day the Lord
with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent,
even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
In that day sing ye unto her, a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I will water
it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." (Isaiah 27.1-3)
In the midst of this Celestial Vineyard there is said to have been a Tower, and the Dragon
of the Absolute is flying guardingly before a Tower. The Eagle of Omnipotence is sheltering
the symbol of His Vineyard or the Holy Grail.
— Harold Bayley, The Lost Language of Symbolism, Vol. 2,
Chapter XV: The White Horse (p. 58)
Chapter XIX: The Garden of Allah (p. 251)
Chapter XX: The Tree of Life (pp. 286-287)
Citadel Press, New York (first edition, London 1912)
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APPLE SYMBOLISM FROM THE GRAIL LEGEND:
• This fairy-tale (transcribed in 1845) could serve as the original popular form of the
Perceval story. It is the Breton fairy-tale of Peronik.
Peronik, a poor youth, hears from a passing knight that two magic objects, a golden goblet
and a diamond lance, are to be found in the Castle of Ker Glas. A drink from the goblet
heals all ills and the lance destroys everything it strikes. These things belong to the
magician Rogear who lives at Ker Glas. To reach the castle, so the knight has learned
from a hermit, one must first pass through the forest of illusion, pluck an apple
from a tree guarded to a corrigan [dwarf] with a fiery sword and find the laughing flower
guarded by a snake-maned lion. Then, passing through the Sea of Dragons and the Valley
of Joy, the hero will reach a river, at the only ford of which a black-clad woman
awaits him. He must take her up on to his horse, so, that she may show him the way.
Every knight who has previously sought the castle has perished in doing so, but this
does not deter Peronik. He sets out upon the way and succeeds in safely undergoing all
the adventures and in reaching Ker Glas. The magician dies after he has taken one bite
from the apple and been touched by the woman, who is revealed to be the plague.
In an underground chamber Peronik finds the goblet and the lance, "la lance qui
tue et le bassin qui vivifie". The castle vanishes in a clap of thunder and
Peronik finds himself in the forest. After dressing himself in fine clothes he
goes to the court of the king, who loads him with gifts and makes him commander
of his soldiers. So the foundling child becomes a great and mighty lord.(pp. 35-36)
• At the conclusion of the story, the Grail is handed over to Joseph's brother-in-law
Brons, who departs for the West, for Britain, to preach Christianity. There in Avalon,
"where the sun goes down", he must await his grandson and eventual successor. According
to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the mortally wounded King Arthur was carried to Insula Avallonis,
Island of Apples (or of the Avallo), to be restored to health by the nine
sisters skilled in healing and magic who dwelt there, one of whom was the famous Morgana.
This apple island is analogous to the Isles of the Blest of antiquity, where
golden apples were tended by divine maidens, and to the Celtic "Land of the Living",
likewise situated in the West. The concept of an Elysium of this kind also continued into
Christian times. In the legend of the voyage of Bran the Blessed, widely distributed in
the Middle Ages & later, this Irish saint, during his journey to Terra repromissionis,
the Promised Land, also comes to an island, equally in the West and planted with apple
trees. This apple orchard signifies the second Paradise, the goal and salvation
that have to be rediscovered after the loss of the first Paradise throught the instrumentality
of an apple tree. (pp. 343-344)
• In the Vita Merlini the firy Morgana is a sister of Arthur and one of the
nine fairies of the Insula Pomorum (Island of Apples— Avalon).
She is an evil sorceress who destroys her lover, something like Circe in the Odyssey.
In the Lancelot she creates a Val sans Retour (Valley of No Return) in which
she confines her lovers. According to the Vulgate Merlin, she is called a boine clergess
(good clergywoman) and has a special understanding of astronomy and necromancy. She has
been taught the latter by Merlin himself, for he is passionately in love with her and has
fallen completely into her power. She then turns the art against him. (p. 393)
— Emma Jung & Marie-Louise von Franz, The Grail Legend
2nd Edition, translated by Andrea Dykes,
Sigo Press, Boston, 1986 (original 1960)
*************************************************************************************
The following books are from Stanford Green Library's Information Center & Stacks:
APPLE
An ancient symbol of fertility and, especially in the case of the red apple, of love.
Because of its spherical shape, it was occasionally interpreted as a symbol of eternity.
The apple is also frequently encountered as a symbol of spiritual knowlege, especially
in the Celtic tradition. The golden apples of the Hesperides were regarded as symbols
of immortality. The apples of Iduna gave the Ases eternal youth.
The apple's spherical shape is also interpreted in Christian symbolism
and elsewhere as a symbol of the earth or, due to its beautiful shape and sweetness,
as a symbol of the temptations of this world. The apple is thus a common symbol of
the initial Fall from grace (instead of a fig or quince). With respect to this, an
apple in the hand of Christ symbolizes the salvation from Original Sin that came
about from the Fall. Apples on a Christmas Tree symbolize the return of humanity to
Eden brought about by Christ. The apple should be interpreted in the same vein as
an attribute of Mary, the new Eve (see Pomegranate). The imperial orb, symbol of
the globe, is a symbol of world domination. In antiquity, it appears in various
forms in depictions of Nike, goddess of victory, and is shown, usually topped
with a cross, with Christian rulers. The apple acquired symbolic significance
because it is one f the oldest fruits gathered by man.
— Udo Becker, The Element Encyclopedia of Symbols (translated by Lance W. Garmer)
Element Books Limited, Shaftesbury, Great Britain, 1994, p. 21 [AZ108.B4313.1994(IC)]
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APPLE
A fruit with a core and multiple symbolic meanings. Wild crab-apples were gathered
in ancient times, and full-sized varieties were already found in Central Europe in
the Neolithic era. In ancient myth the god of intoxication Dionysus was the creator
of the apple, which he presented to Aphrodite, goddess of love. Erotic associations
liken apples to women's breasts, and the core of an apple cut in halves to the vulva.
In this way the apple acquired a somewhat ambiguous symbolism. The goddess Eris called
for "the judgment of Paris" when she threw down a golden apple marked "for the most
beautiful" (the "apple of discord" in other languages corresponds to the English
"bone of contention"); Helen of Troy was Paris' reward for choosing Aphrodite, but
his abduction of Helen led to the Trojan War. Hercules had to brave great danger to
retrieve the apples of the Hesperides from the far reaches of the west (compare
Islands of the Blessed). On the other hand, the earth-goddess Ge (or Gaea) gave
Hera an apple as a symbol of fertility upon her engagement to Zeus. In Athens
newlyweds divided and ate an apple when they entered the bridal chamber. Sending
or tossing apples was a part of courtship. The Old Norse goddess Iduna guarded
apples that brought eternal youth to whoever ate them. In Celtic religion the apple
was the symbol of knowledge handed down from ancestors.
Chinese symbology starts with the homonymy of the words for "apple"
and "peace" (p'ing), but the word for disease (ping) is also similar,
and thus it is considered inappropriate to bring apples to the sick. Apple blossoms,
on the other hand, are a symbol of feminine beauty. In Europe the apple of the
Garden of Eden, from the Tree of Good and Evil, is the symbol of temptation and
original sin. In European representations of the Fall, the serpent holds an apple
in its mouth, although Genesis refers only to "fruit"; our apple was unknown east
of the Mediterranean. Various traditions replace the apple with a fig, quince, or
pomegranate. Paintings of Christ's birth show him reaching out for an apple,
symbolically taking the sins of the world upon himself; apples on a European
Christmas tree suggest that Christ's birth makes possible a return to the state
of innocence that preceded the Fall. Tje enticing sweetness of the apple, however,
was first associated with the enticements of sin, also in the surface similarity
of the Latin words for "apple" (ralus, malum) and for "bad, evil, sin"
(malum). Thus in baroque art the skeleton of death often is holding an
apple: the price of original sin is death.
In the secular realm the apple, with its almost perfectly spherical
form, functions as a symbol for the cosmos; thus many emperors and kings hold an
"imperial apple" along with their scepter. In ancient times some coins showed
three spheres representing the three continents known to the emperor Augustus—
Asia, Africa, and Europe; the imperial apple was crowned by an image of the goddess
of victory (Nike, in Latin Victoria). In the Christian era a cross assumed this role,
so that the astronomical symbol for earth is a circle with a cross on it. In the
legends of Celtic Britain, Avalon (Appleland) is a symbol for divine joy. Thus
Robert Graves takes the apple as a symbol for springtime and lovers' bliss:
"It grants admittance to the Elysian Fields, those apple orchards where only the
souls of heroes may go... An apple is the gift of the three Hesperides to Hercules,
and the gift of Eve, 'mother of all the living', to Adam. Finally, Nemesis, the
goddess of the holy grove, who in later myths became a symbol of divine vengeance
wrought upon arrogant kings, carries an apple-bough, her gift to heroes. Every
Neolithic or Bronze Age paradise was an island of orchards..." It should be noted
that even the unpalatable crab-apple is harsh and tart, is also particularly useful
for keeping wine from turning. Thus rigor that seems harsh chastises evil and
conserves virtue."
— Hans Biedermann, Dictionary of Symbolism
Facts On File, New York, 1992, pp. 16-17 [AZ108.B5313.1992(IC)]
***************************************************************************************
JOHNNY APPLESEED
Nickname of John Chapman, legendary planter of apple trees. Chapman was a historical figure
(1774-1845) who established apple orchards in the early 19th century from his native
Massachusetts westward through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. He was eccentric for
his time, following the visionary teachings of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg
and choosing an ascetic life that denied materialism and promoted altruism. His odd
lifestyle no doubt generated controversial commentary among the other frontier people.
He cared little for his own appearance, dressing in frayed or even tattered clothes;
he pierced his flesh as testimony to his spirituality; he argued for humane treatment
of all animals; and he spoke about mystical things.
His potential for appeal to modern sensibility has been obscured by two
20th-century treatments. In the first place, his story was exaggerated and distorted by
writers of children's books between World Wars I and II, who presented him as a quaint
and funny fellow and touted him as "Johnny Appleseed", a genuine American tall-tale hero.
In the second, Richard M. Dorson countered that tendency for unrealistic and saccharine
writing about American tall-tale characters in general by dismissing these treatments of
Johnny Appleseed as purely contrived "fakelore", of the same ilk as the fictions created
about Annie Christmas or Paul Bunyan.
Although undoubtedly influenced by both the ersatz literary treatments
and Johnny Appleseed's fakelore notoriety, stories about John Chapman do have a continuing
role in some local oral traditions, where people can still point to remnants of original
Chapman orchards. Some local traditions also attribute more than apple orchards to Chapman.
Stands of "native" hemp, or cannabis, are alleged to have been planted by Johnny along with
his apple seeds. State historical markers and several local festivals honor John Chapman
as "Johnny Appleseed", a pioneer hero. In 1966,m as the first issue of the American
Folklore Series, a 5-cent U.S. commemorative postage stamp was issued depicting Johnny
Appleseed [Scott #1317, issued September 24, 1966, Leominster, MA]. — Kenneth A. Thigpen
References:
Richard M. Dorson, American Folklore (1959), Univeristy of Chicago Press, pp. 232-236
Richard M. Dorson, "Fakelore" in American Folklore and the Historian (1971), pp. 3-14
Robert Price, Johnny Appleseed: Man and Myth (1954), Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
— Jan Harold Brunvand (Editor), American Folklore: An Encyclopedia
Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, 1996, p. 412 [GR101.A54.1996(IC)]
***************************************************************************************
APPLE
Originally growing wild in Europe and western Asia, and cultivated in
Europe since Roman times, the apple is a particularly sacred tree in European mythology.
A 7th century poem says that a man who puts an apple to the axe must pay a fine of one
cow, and the feeling that to cut one down is unlucky has persisted to the present day.
So strong was this in Ireland, that an early Irish poem, the Triads of Ireland,
calls for the sacrifice of a living creature in payment for felling one.
Three unbreathing things paid / for only with breathing things: / An apple tree,
a hazel bush, a sacred grove. Felling an apple tree is unlucky because the apple
stands for immortality, for eternal youth and happiness in the life after death.
The Scandinavian gods kept themselves forever young by eating the golden apples of
Idun, goddess of youth and spring. In Welsh legends kings and heroes go after earthly
death to live happily in a paradise of apple trees called Avalon (the name possibly
from the Welsh word for an apple, afal).
The apple probably owes its connection with immortality to its colours.
Wild apples (crab apples) and many varieties of cultivated apple turn yellow and red
as they ripen, and these are the colours of the sun— yellow in its course across
the sky, red as it sinks to its 'death' at sunset, from which it rises again, resurrected
and immortal, with each new morning.
The Daughters of Night: This link with the sun comes out strongly
in the Greek story of the golden apples which were kept by the Hesperides or 'nymphs
of the evening', the daughters of Night, in their garden in the farthest west, where
the sun goes down to its death in the evening. A dragon with 100 heads guarded the
apples but Hercules managed to kill the dragon and steal them. He took the apples to
his master King Eurystheus, who gave them to the goddess Athena. She returned them
to the Hesperides again, which makes this labour of Hercules seem singularly pointless.
But it is likely that in the original story Hercules won immortality by stealing the apples.
.jpg)
Hans von Marées (1837-1887),
Hesperides (1884), Neue Pinakothek, Munich
The apple's connection with the sun is shown in the story of the apples of the Hesperides,
the nymphs who lived in the west where the sun sets. The above triptych painting by Hans von Marées
is in the Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
The Apple of Desire: As an emblem of renewed life and youth, and
because of its appearance when cut in half, the apple also stood for desire and belonged
to love goddesses in Celtic and Greek mythology. This is its role in the story of the
Judgment of Paris. A golden apple marked "for the fairest" was thrown down at a wedding
feast on Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. Three goddesses— Hera, Athena, and
Aphrodite— each claimed to be the most beautiful, and Zeus decided that the contest
should be judged by Paris, one of the sons of the King of Troy and the handsomest man alive.
.jpg)
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640),
The Judgment of Paris (1638),
National Gallery, London
In the story of the Judgment of Paris, the apple stands for desire. Paris, one of the sons
of the King of Troy, had the difficult task of judging which of the three goddesses was the
most beautiful. He awarded the prize, a golden apple, to Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
The above painting by Peter Paul Rubens is in the National Gallery, London. |
The goddesses stripped naked so that Paris could judge them properly and
each of them tried to bribe him to give her the apple. Aphrodite, the goddess of desire,
promised him the love of Helen, the most beautiful of mortal women. Paris gave the apple
to Aphrodite, which the other goddesses bitterly resented. She kept her promise and Helen
ran away with Paris; which was the immediate cause of the Trojan War.
This story, intended to account for the origin of the war, appears only
in the later legends about it and has an odd ring, as it explains no religious ritual
or custom and does not seem to be connected with any particular religious belief, except
that the apple belongs to Aphrodite as a love goddess. It may be an elaboration of a brief
reference in Homer's Iliad to Paris humiliating Hera and Athena at a meeting in
his shepherd's hut by his preference for Aphrodite, "who offered him the pleasures and
the penalties of love".
It has also been suggested by Robert Graves, that the story was a mistaken
attempt to explain a sacred picture showing Hermes, three naked goddesses and a young man
with an apple; which really represented the Mother Goddess in her triple aspect of maiden,
mother, and hage, giving the apple to the sacred king to assure him of immortality; while
Hermes, who led dead souls down to the underworld stood by.
Eve and the Apple: Traditionally the fruit which the serpent of Eden
maliciously persuaded Adam and Eve to eat was an apple, though the Bible does not say what
type of fruit was involved but only that it was the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil. A more likely fruit than the apple would be the fig, which would connect neatly
with the clothes that Adam and Eve made for themselves from the fig leaves after they had
eaten the fruit. But what eating the fruit brought them was the guilty consciousness of
desire, which the apple symbolizes.
Aquila of Pontus in Asia Minor, who was converted first to Christianity and
then to Judaism, and translated the Old Testament into Greek in the 2nd century AD, is the
first writer known to have identified the fruit as an apple. He translated Song of Solomon 8.5—
"I raised thee up under the apple tree; there thy mother brought thee forth"—
as "I raised thee up under the apple tree; there wast thou corrupted",
evidently taking the verse as a reference to the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
St. Jerome, translating the Old Testament into Latin, followed suit and the belief that
the forbidden fruit was an apple has been generally accepted ever since.
— Richard Cavendish (Editor), Man, Myth & Magic:
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown
Marshall Cavendish, New York, 1985, pp. 141-142 [BF1411.M25.1983Bv.1(IC)]
***********************************************************************************************
APPLE
In Hesse, it is said that if an apple be eaten on New Year's day, it will
produce an abscess.
To find an apple on your tree that is of one color or kind on one side
and another color or kind on the other, is a sign of a terrible division in the family.
In the East, there is a fruit called the "love-apple". If you send it
to the one you love and whom you wish to love you, it will induce the person to do so.
When you get your winter's supply of apples, notice the peeling; if it is
very thick, you may prepare for a long and cold winter.
If you find a large but very thin seed in an apple, you will receive
an important letter.
If you eat an apple having but one seed, you will receive an unexpected
fortune, either by marriage or legacy.
In Sicily, if a person throws an apple out of the window and a woman
picks it up, there will be no marriage for the person that year.
In Pomerania, to eat apples is believed to insure against fever.
It is accounted lucky to come upon a worm in the first ripe apple you eat.
To slip on an apple-peel, signifies a better end than beginning.
No Russian will touch an apple before the feast of the transfiguration, Aug. 6th.
An apple falling from a tree and striking a person on the right shoulder,
is an omen of good luck; on the left, bad.
In Turkey is an apple that, if tasted by persons feeling old and decrepit,
will restore them to youth. "A bloom on the tree when apples are ripe, /
Is the sure termination of somebody's life." (Gloucestershire, England)
To drop an apple when eating it, fortells sickness. If you drop it twice, an accident.
Burying thirteen leaves of an apple tee, insures a good crop of apples.
In the West of England, when the apples are gathered in, a few are left
on the tree for the fairies, so as to secure their good will and friendship.
In Austria, a maiden cuts an apple and places the left half in her bosom
and the right half behind the door. The first man who comes through the door, will be
her future husband.
The English believe that if the boys went out on New Year's and, encircling
the apple trees, sang the following words, they would have a good crop:
"Stand fast root, bear well top, / Pray God send us a howling crop. / Every twig apple big, /
Every bough apples enough. / Hats full, caps full / Great quarter sacks full!"
If, in cutting an apple in two, a seed is cut, trouble will come to the
person having the largest portion of the seed.
Apple-growers say that they had rather gather their apples under a
shrinking moon, for even if the apples are bruised in the gathering, they will not
rot so fast as if taken at the waxing moon. "If apples bloom in March, /
In vain for them you'll search; / If apples bloom in April, / Why then they'll be plentiful; /
If apples bloom in May, / You may eat them night and day."
When a full crop of apples is picked in Cornwall, it is unlucky to
go again and pick the few remaining ones that have been missed. Those belong to
the fairies and earth-spirits, and they will resent your greediness.
In the Scandinavian mythology, the apple tree played an important part.
In the Edda, the goddess Iduna is related to have had charge of the apples
which had the power of conferring immortality, and which, in consequence of their
miraculous property, were especially retained by the gods to eat when they felt
themselves growing old. The evil spirit Loki carried off Iduna and the wonderful
apple tree, and hid them away in a forest where the gods could not find them.
The result of this spiteful theft was that everything went wrongly, both in this
mundane sphere and in the realms divine. The gods grew old and infirm, and were
no longer able to control the affairs of this earth, until by combining their
powers, they overcame Loki and compelled him to restore the apple tree, which
again restored comparative harmony among men and gods.
The apple plays its part in the fables of every race. It was the
forbidden fruit of Eden; the wedding gift of Zeus to Hebe; the prize for beauty
offered by Paris; borne in the hand of Aphrodite; watched by dragons in the gardens
of the Hesperides; vainly grasped at in hell by Tantalus; comforted the love-sick
maiden in th Song of Solomon; ruined Troy, and saved Hippomenes. Iduna, wife of Bragi,
Odin's son, keeps in her magic casket the apples of which the gods must eat to obtain
perpetual youth. It formed the groves of the blessed Isle of Avalon; conveyed the
poison to Snowflake; and was pierced by the arrow of William Tell. To this day,
it receives in the cider districts exceptional respect. The Devonshire women
carry bowls of wassail into the orchards and sprinkle a few drops upon each tree,
to make it fruitful.
In Somersetshire, the apple trees are "wassailed", by singing
certain songs to insure a good crop.
The Pennsylvaina Germans say: Pick apples in the dark of the moon
to keep them from rotting.
APPLE OF EVE— There is a tree in Hispaniola, St. Domingo,
called the "apple of Eve". It has a very fragrant smell and is very enticing;
but it is an "apple of Sodom", being as deadly as beautiful.
— Cora Linn Daniels & C.M. Stevans (Editors), Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore,
and the Occult Sciences of the World, Vol. II, Gale Research Company, Detroit, 1971,
originally published by J.H. Yewdale & Sons, Co., Chicago, 1903, pp. 764-765, 867
[BF1407.D35.1903aV.2(IC)]
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Plants and Plant Husbandry: APPLE
Apple Tree Planted During Starry Nights— In planting an apple tree,
we should select a starry night so that the apple [sic] bears many fruits
(Batangas, Valencia, Bukidnon, 1967).
— Francisco R. Demetrio (Ed.), Dictionary of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs, Book IV,
Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines, 1970, p. 865 [GR325.D44v.4(IC)]
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APPLE
Fruitfulness, health, knowledge, love, wisdom; also death, discord, evil,
lust, temptation. Of phallic significance. In witchcraft food of the oracular dead.
In fairytales the giver of immortal youth; in the Swiss tale of William Tell typifies
danger. In folklore the fruit is the symbol of consummation as the egg is of initiation.
Word from the root ap (ab or ball). The ending le (ala) is apparently a diminutive form.
As used in Northern Europe, yields ap (ab or ball or eye) + poe (pol or Baldur), thus
eye of Baldur, sun god. French pomme yields eye of sun. Greek for apple is melon,
i.e., one god; Welsh is aval, thus Avalon, the isle of rest, is Apple Island. It equates
with Apollo and is the source of Appleby, Appuldurcomb, Appold, etc. In Celtic tradition
one of the two sacred trees of ancient Ireland. In China symbolizes peace. In Christian-
Hebraic-Moslem tradition earthly happiness, fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Cause of the fall of man and of original sin, death-dealer, destroyer. In the hands of Adam,
weakness; in the hands of Eve, damnation. In the hands of Jesus, the new Adam; in the hands
of Mary, the new Eve, redemption or salvation. Attribute of Saint Dorothea. Neither early
Hebrew nor Mohammedan works clearly identify the fruit, and some believe an ear of wheat,
a fig, or fruit of the vine may have been intended. Some believe a Semitic word for fruit
was translated into Old High German opaz (fruit) or Anglo-Saxon ofet (fruit), both of
which are rendered as apple. In Greek mythology the apple symbolizes discord, love,
victory— Eris, Atalants. The golden apples of Aphrodite caused even the frigid
Atalanta to yield to love. In Norse mythology a symbol of immortality.
Apple Blossom: December 31 birthday flower signifying preference.
In the language of flowers: He prefers you; also Fame called him great and good. Herald
of May; appropriate to brides. Emblem of Arkansas and Michigan.
Apple Howling: In England salute given in apple orchards on
Christmas Eve invoking fruitfulness.
Apple of Discord: In Greek mythology gold apple inscribed "For the Fairest",
and thrown onto a table by Eris, goddess of discord, at the marriage feast of Thetis
and Peleus, to which all deities except Eris had been invited. Aphrodite, Athena, Hera,
each claimed the apple. Called upon to act as judge, Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite.
The vegeance of Athena and Hera was directed against Paris, and they brought about the
fall of Troy. Thus any cause of dispute.
Apple of Hesperides: The apples the color of burnished gold with
the taste of honey. When eaten they did not diminish in any way, and whoever cast one
of them hit anything he wished, and the apple came back into his hand. They also had
the power of healing, and were symbolic of happiness, love, and wisdom. They were given
to Hera as a wedding gift when she married Zeus. She placed them under the guardianship
of a dragon (earth spirit) in the Garden of the Hesperides (Garden in the North). The
apples tossed by Eris was stolen from this garden. One of the labors of Hercules was to
get an apple. In Celtic lore demanded by Lugh as a blood fine from the murderers of his
father, the son of Tuirenn. Probably identical with the apple tree of Manannan. According
to some scholars, oranges or persimmons were intended.
Apple of Istakhar: All sweetness on one side; all bitterness on the other.
Apple of Paradise: Apples with a bite on one side to indicate the bite
given by Eve.
Apple of Perpetual Youth: In Scandinavian mythology the golden apples
in the keeping of Idhunn, daughter of Svald and wife of Bragi. By tasting them the gods
preserved their youth.
Apple of Pyban: In the travels of Sir John Mandeville, pigmies fed
on their scent alone.
Apple of Samarkand: In the Arabian Nights a cure for any disorder.
Apple of Sodom: A poisonous Dead Sea fruit; a lovely fruit which,
when plucked, turns to ashes; hence anything deceptive or disappearing. Typifies sin.
Apple Tree: Useful beauty. Frequently figures as a tree of everlasting
youth. A tree of knowledge or of life. In Baltic mythology, when the tree has nine branches,
typifies the rays of the sun.
Thorn Apple: Deceitful charms.
Wild Apple: When Celtic tree alphabet was increased to fifteen
consonants, tree of the eleventh consonant, quert (Q or CC), which shared the month
of the hazel, August 6 to September 2.
— Gertrude Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore, and Symbols
Screcrow Press, Inc., New York, 1962, Part I, pp. 112-114 [GR35.J6.v.1(IC)]
***************************************************************************************
APPLE
A pome fruit and the tree bearing this fruit, widely cultivated in the temperate
regions, originally growing wild in Europe and western Asia. The apple tree and its
fruit play an important role in classical, Arabian, Teutonic, and Celtic mythology
and folklore. The apple as such is not mentioned in the Bible in conjunction with
Adam and Eve. Despite the popular conception of the story, the cause of the trouble
was the "fruit" (unidentified) of the tree which is in the midst of the garden"
(Genesis iii.3).
The apple mentioned in the Song of Solomon (ii.3,5; vii.8;; viii.5) and in
Joel (i.12) may the apricot or the orange (the apples of gold, Proverbs
xxv.11) which flourished in Asia Minor.
In mythology and folklore, the apple is celebrated in numerous functions:
as a means to immortality, an emblem of fruitfulness, an offering or a distraction in
suitor contests, a cure, a love charm, a test of chastity, a means of divination,
a magic object, and according to Voltaire's story of Newton, it was responsible for
the discovery of the law of gravity. In Greek mythology, the golden apples of the
Hesperides were sought by Hercules for Eurystheus because of their immortality-giving
quality. Scandinavian mythology includes the story of the apples of perpetual youth
kept by Idhunn in Asgard. The wonderful apple thrown to Conle, son of Conn, by the
woman from the Land of the Living, was food and drink to him for a month, and never
diminished; but it made him long for the woman and beautiful country of women to which
she was enticing him. Gna, messenger of the Scandinavian Frigga, dropped an apple
(symbol of fruitfulness) to King Rerir. He and his wife ate it together, with the
result that they had a child. In Greek myth the suitor of Atalanta, compelled to race
with her, threw down golden apples to distract her, and so won the race and the girl.
Frey sent eleven golden apples to Gerda as a marriage offer. The apple is the central
tree of heaven in Iroquois Indian mythology. In a Wyandot myth, an apple tree shades
the lodge of the Mighty Ruler.
The apple of Prince Ahmed in the Arabian Nights cured every disorder.
In U.S. Negro folklore, apple-shaped birthmarks can be removed by rubbing them with
apples and keeping the person on an apple diet. They are also used in voodoo love charms.
The apple is a love charm also in Danish, German, and English folklore. In Danish folktale
it serves as a chastity test, fading when the owner is unfaithful. In Ireland, Wales,
Scotland, and the Isle of Man, apples are used in divination. The custom of dipping for
apples or catching one on a string on Halloween is a remnant of druidic divination.
The apple is a magic object in Scandinavian, Irish, Icelandic, Teutonic, Breton, English,
and Arabian folktales.
It is also the subject of numerous proverbs and sayings: Eat an apple
going to bed, Make the doctor beg his bread (now, An apple a day keeps the doctor away).
There is small choice in rotten apples, and From the egg to apples (now, From soup to nuts).
JOHNNY APPLESEED
John Chapman (1774-1845), eccentric, itinerant pioneer nurseryman and colporteur, enshrined
in historical, literary, and folk tradition as the American Saint Francis and "voice in the
wilderness". Beginning in the 1790's, he worked his way west from his native Massachusetts
to the Pennsylvania-Ohio-Indiana frontier, planting apple nurseries, spreading "news right
fresh from heaven", befriending and winning the respect of settlers and Indians alike, as a
mediary and "medicine man". His apple seeds and seedlings, exchanged for food, cast-off
clothing, and other articles or for frontier currency, took care of his simple needs, while
the profits went into copies of Swedenborg's works, which he separated into parts for wider
and cheaper distribution.
Generally pictured as a barefoot, bearded, kindly hermit and tramp, with
a tin mushpot or pastelboard peaked cap on his head and a tow-linen coffee sack on his
back, he left a trail of legends and anecdotes, folk memories and public memorials,
orchards and monuments, not only throughout the Middle West but from coast to coast.
He has been celebrated in drama, poetry, fiction, and biography as a saint in action,
and memorialized by New Church and horticultural societies as a missionary extraordinary
and the patron saint of pomology. As a savior among frontier wastrels, the archetype of
"endurance that was voluntary, and of action that was creative and not sanguinary",
he occupies a unique place in the pantheon of folk heroes— the poetic symbol of
spiritual pioneering, of self-abnegation combined with service, of plain living and
high thinking.
He is said to have proved his fortitude in enduring pain by sticking pins
and needles into his flesh, and his love of every living thing by extinguishing a campfire
to keep mosquitoes from burning themselves in it, and by sleeping out in the snow rather
than oust a mother bear and her cubs from the hollow log they had pre-empted. Other
typical scenes and exploits in the Applessed saga include floating down the Ohio River
in two canoes lashed together and containing apple seed salvaged from Pittsburgh cider
presses, and saving the people of Mansfield from Indian massacre by running 26 miles
to Mt. Vernon for help and returning in 24 hours. Among the oddly assorted memorials
to his name are a "Johnny Appleseed apple", "Johnny weed" (annoying dog fennel,
which he planted along with other medicinal herbs), and "Johnny Appleseed Week"
(last week in September, celebrated in Ohio since 1941). — B. A. Botkin
— Maria Leach (Editor), Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend
Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York, 1949,
Vol, 1, p. 68 & Vol. 2, pp. 555-556 [GR35F8v.1-2(IC)]
***************************************************************************************
APPLE
Symbolic fruit. The most magical of fruits to the Celts, the apple appears in many
myths and legends. It hides in the word for the Arthurian otherworld, Avalon; it is
the fruit on which the hero Connla of the Golden Hair was fed by his fairy lover;
the soul of king Cúroí rested in an apple within the stomach of a salmon;
it was one of the goals of the fated sons of Tuireann. Its significance continues into
folkloric uses such as that in the British Cotswolds, where an apple tree blooming out
of season meant coming death. Symbolizing harmony and immortality, abundance and love,
the apple was considered a talisman of good fortune and prosperity. Some have connected
the word to Apollo, a word derived from the same source as our word "apple".
— Patricia Monaghan, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore
Facts On File, Inc., New York, 2004, p. 22 [BL900.M66.2004]
***************************************************************************************
APPLE
(Malus domestica). In common with other fruit trees, it was believed that if an apple
tree blossomed out of season misfortune or death was foretold.
Remarking an apple blossom a few days ago, month of November on one of my trees,
I pointed it out as a curiosity to a Dorset labourer. 'Ah! Sir,' he said, 'tis lucky no women
folk be here to see that'; and upon my asking the reason he replied 'Because they's sure to
think somebody were a-going to die.' [N & Q, 4 ser., 10:408, 1872]
[Southmolton, Devon;] We had apples and blossom on one branch of the tree
one September, and were told it was a sign of death. [Chope, 1929: 125]
If an apple tree blossoms very much out of season it foretells a tragedy in
the family before the year is out. [Reading, Berkshire, February 1987]
A belief recorded from
Derbyshire [N & Q, I ser. 8: 512, 1853] and elsewhere was that if the sun shone through
the branches of apple trees on Christmas Day, or Old Christmas Day, an abundant crop of
apples was foretold. In Dorset this belief was expressed in the couplet [Carre, 1975: 12]:
If wold Christmas Day be fair and bright
Ye'd have apples to your heart's delight.
At about the same time of year apple trees were wassailed.
In certain parts of this country superstitious observances yet linger, such
as drinking health to the [apple] trees on Christmas and Epiphany eves, saluting them by
throwing toasted crabs or toast round them, lighting fires etc. All these ceremonies are
supposed to render the trees productive for the coming season.
I once had the occasion to pass the night preceding Twelfth day at a lone
farm-house on the borders of Dartmoor, in Devonshire, and was somewhat alarmed at hearing,
very late at night, the repeated discharge of fire-arms in the immediate vicinity of the
house. On my inquiring in the morning as to what was the cause of the unseasonable noise,
I was told that the farm-men were firing into the Apple-trees in the orchard, in order
that the trees might bear a good crop. [Johns, 1847: 303]
Four years later it was reported:
Amongst the scenes of jocund hospitality in this holiday season, that are
handed down to us, is one which not only presents an enlivening picture, but offers proof
of the superstition that still prevails in the western counties. On 'Twelfth Eve', in Devonshire,
it is customary for the farmer to leave his warm fireside, accompanied by a band of rustics,
with guns, blunderbusses, etc., presenting an appearance which at other times would be
somewhat alarming. Thus armed, the band proceed to an adjoining orchard, where is selected
one of the most fruitful and aged of the apple-trees, grouping round which the stand and
offer up their invocations in the following quaint doggerel rhyme:
Here's to thee
Old apple tree!
Whence thou mays't blow
And whence thou mays't bear
Apples enow:
Hats full!
Caps full!
Bushels, bushels, sacks full,
And my pockets full too!
Huzza! Huzza!
|
The cider jug is then passed around, and, with many a hearty shout, the party
fire off their guns, charged with powder only, amidst the branches, sometimes frightening
the owl from its midnight haunt. With confident hopes they return to the farm-house, and
are refused admittance, in spite of all weather, till some lucky wight guesses aright the
peculiar roast hte maidens are preparing for their comfort. This done, all enter, and soon
right merrily the jovial glass goes round— the man who gained admission receiving the
honour of 'king of the evening', and till a late hour he reigns, amidst laughter, fun, and
jollity. The origin of this custom is not known, but is supposed to be of great antiquity.
[Illustrated London Newsm, 11 January 1851]
This custom seems to have been most prevalent in Devon and Somerset. It also
occurred in other apple-growing districts, but appears to have been absent from the cider-making
area around Hereford. In Sussex, where the custom was known as 'howling', the earliest
reference dates back to 1670, when the Rector of Horsted Keynes recorded in his diary on
Boxing Day, 'Gave to the howling boys sixpence' [Simpson, 1973: 102]. At Duncton, in West
Sussex, 'Spratty' Knight was the chief wassailer in the 1920s. He was 'Captain' of a team of
wassailers who would assemble at the village pub and go around the local farms asking each
farmer 'Do you want your trees wassailed?'
The gang, followed by numerous small children, then went to the orchard.
Spratty blew through a cow's horn, which made a terrible sound. It was to frighten away
any evil spirits that might be lurking around. Next one of the trees, generally the finest
one, would be hit with sticks and sprinkled with ale. This was a gift to the god who looked
after the fruit trees. Lastly all the company joined the wassailing song, the words of which
were as follows:
Stand fast, root, bear well, top,
Pray, good God, send us a howling crop,
Every twig, apples big, every bough, apples now;
Hats full, caps full, five bushell sacks full,
And a little heap under the stairs,
Hulloa, boys, hulloa, and blow the horn!
|
And hulloa they did, to the accompaniment of the horn. This completed the wassailing, and
everyone trooped out of the orchard up to the farm-house door, where they were greeted by
the farmer's wife with drinks and goodies. Sometimes money was given instead of good cheer,
and then on around the village, till they arrived at the Cricketers' Inn, which was their
last port of call. [West Sussex Gazette, 26 December 1966]
Similarly, in Devon in the 1940s:
The sun on the apple trees on Christmas Day would mean a good crop,
and at Dunkerswell up the Culm Valley, on Twelfth Night they went out from the local
pub at night to shoot into the branches and sing an old song. [Tilehurst, Berkshire, February 1987]
The wassailing of apple trees seems to have survived longest at Carhampton in Somerset,
where the custom continues to take place in the orchard behind the Butchers Arms Inn each
January [Patten, 1974:7]. Elsewhere wassailing has been revived as a publicity venture by
cider companies. Thus in 1974 the Taunton Cider Company promoted a wassailing, complete
with a Wassail Queen, at Norton Fitzwarren, in west Somerset [Western Gazette, 25 January 1974].
A particularly vigorous revival is the Apple Howling event which the Chanctonbury Ring
Morris Men put on each year.
The practice is undoubtedly traditional to Sussex where it is known as
'Apple Howling' rather than 'Wassailing the Apple Trees', but the proceedings, as conducted
by the Chanctonbury Ring Morris Men, are a compilationg of traditions from various parts of
the country rather than a purely Sussex tradition. We have used such sources as Christina Hole's
British Folk Customs and records of the event at Carhampton, Somerset, to produce
an hour long event which has proved a great success. As you will see in Geoffrey Palmer
and Noel Lloyd's A Year of Festivals [1972] it is our team at Tandring, Hailsham,
which is used to illustrate this traditional event! This was the first occasion that we
did it, in 1967 (January 6th). Chanctonbury Ring M.M. have now successfully done their
apple howling for the last two years at Furner's Farm, Henfield, Sussex. We try to do it
on the Eve of Epiphany, but since Friday clashes with a Folk Song Club commitment we have
chosen a Thursday on both occasions. We had 300 spectators this year and in addition there
were 25 morris men. Mr. Whitton, the owner of the orchard, is most cooperative! The morris
men are enthusiastic! [Dick Playl, past squire of Chanctonbury Ring Morris Men, January 1978]
In 1978 the programme proceeded from a 'cacophonouse noise' to signal the start, through
a series of traditional activities, including the palacing of spiced wassail cake in a fork
of the tree 'to ensure the good-will of robins and other birds', to a 'general hullabaloo',
followed by three cheers for the orchard owner, before concluding with the distribution of
'traditional spiced Wassail Cake and English cider from the barrel'. Sixteen years later,
in May 1994, the bagman of the morris men reported:
We still go Apple Howling on or very near Twelfth Night. Of late we have
taken to doing it on the nearest Saturday, in the early evening as it is very popular
with the children. We regularly get audience of 100. Furner's Farm is a working orchard
on a commercial scale with a considerable amount of trees for this part of the country.
It has packing sheds where we retire to after the ceremony to eat wassail cakes (locally
made spiced buns), drink cider and to perform some dances. This is given as a thank you
to all our loyal followers, and gets larger by the year, despite the weather in January
which can be quite inclement at times. It also ensures that everyone has played their part
in bringing a good crop for next year.
This revival took place at a time when there was a resurgence of interest in English folk
music and dance. In the 1990s, following a period of interest in 'green' and New Age ideas,
revivals reflect these enthusiams.
There seems to be no record of apple tree wassailing in Yorkshire, and my
attempts at reviving the custom will undoubtedly be frowned upon by some folklorists who
are of the opinion that such a revival should not be contemplated in an area where the
custom has not been previously performed. My reply is that apple trees have a right to
be wassailed wherever they grow. There is a great affinity between trees and humans, but
also, unfortunately at present, great isolation. Wassailing the apple trees is one way
of helping to restore harmony and thus correcting this imbalance... This year I finally
managed to find a suitable location in the Sheffield area, although only 5 people attended...
Plans for 1994, apart from a repeat of the 1993 wassails, include a possible second
wassailing location in the Sheffield area, and a possible one near Rotherham. [Sheffield, April 1993]
Writing in 1884, Sabine Baring-Gould recorded a north Devon belief that it was usual for
there to be late frosts, which severely damaged apple blossom, on the nights of 19, 20,
and 21 May. This period was known as St. Frankin's Days. The pre-Reformation Church blessed
each year's new apple crop on St. James's Day (25 July) [Brand, 1853:346], while in the 17th
century it was recorded:
In Herefordshire, and also in Somersetshire, on Midsommer-eve, they make
fires in the fields in the waies:sc— to Blesse the Apples. I have seen the same
custome in Somerset, 1685, but they doe it only for custome sake. [Aubrey, 1881:96]
In a letter written from Elton, north Herefordshire, in 1880, it was stated:
Unless the orchard are christened on St. Peter's Day [29 June] the crop
will not be good; and there ought to be a shower of rain when the people go through
the orchards, but no one seems to know for what purpose exactly [Leather, 1912:104]
St. Swithin's Day (15 July) was another day on which apples were christened.
In the Huntingdonshire parish wherein I passed St. Swithin's Day, 1865,
we had not a drop of rain. A cottager said to me, 'It's a bad job for the apples
that St. Swithin hadn't rained upon 'em.' 'Why so?' 'Because unless St. Swithin
rains upon 'em they'll never keep through winter.' [N & Q, 3 ser. 8:146, 1865]
When I was a lad we were told not to eat apples before St. Swithin's Day
or they would make us ill, as they had not been christened. This was in South Notts.
[N & Q, 8 ser. 10:112, 1896]
The Christening of the Apples. This was a common expression for St. Swithin's
Day in the neighbourhood of Banbury in the middle of the last century. On that day apples
were supposed to begin to get big and mature quickly.
[N & Q, 11 ser. 10:152, 1914]
The Apple Christening DAy is still a common folk-name given to St. Swithin's
Day in Surrey as well as in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, as I am told by many friends.
[N & Q, 11 ser. 10:152, 1914]
But the idea of apples being blessed on St. James's Day also lingered.
'On St. James' Day the Apples are Christened.' This saying is found among
the people in Wiltshire and in Somersetshire. Was St. James considered to be the patron
of orchards? and was he invoked for a blessing on the infant fruit? as, at that season,
May 1, the apple trees are in bloom. [N & Q, 2 ser. 1:386, 1856]
In 1913 a farmer living at Veryan, Cornwall, advised:
Never pick apples before St. James' Day, when they get their final blessing.
[Peter, 1915:132]
Clearly there is some confusion over which St James's Day is intended: the first
quotation refers to the feast of St. James the Less (1 May) and the second apparently
refers to the feast of St. James the Greater (25 July).
Since 1989 the environmental group Common Ground has been promoting 21 October as Apple Day,
in the hope it will stimulate a greater appreciation of old varieties of apple. It remains
to be seen whether or not this annual event will prosper, but according to a report in
The Times of 17 October 1992:
More than 80 apple-promoting events have been planned around the country
next week, from the planting of a new orchard of Cox's Orange Pippin, near the Slough home
of its 19th-century founder to cider-making demonstration and tastings in Devon and Somerset,
and a children's apple activity day at the Greenwich Borough Museum.
Particularly in Ireland, apples are widely used in Hallowe'en activities.
Hallowe'en is celebrated on the night of 31st October. The children get
a tub full of water and put it in the middle of the floor. They put an apple or a couple
of apples into the tub. The children then kneel down around the tub and put their heads
into the water, to try to catch an apple in their mouth. They enjoy themselves very much
at this. This night is also known as 'Snap-Apple Night'. [IFCSS MSS 350:397, Co. Cork]
I was born in 1946 and brought up in a working class area of Manchester.
[At Hallowe'en] occasionally during my childhood we bobbed for apples in a tin bath,
or tried to eat them off strings with hands tied behind back. This happened once or
twice in early childhood. Nowadays we have apple bobbing, apples on strings.
[Acomb, North Yorkshire, August 1989]
In 19th century Cornwall:
The ancient custom of providing children with a large apple on Allhallow-eve
is still observed, to a great extent, at St. Ives. 'Allan-day' as it is called is the
day of days to hundreds of children, who would deem it a great misfortune were they to go
to bed on 'Allan-night' without the time honoured Allan apple to hide beneath their pillows.
A quantity of large apples are thus disposed of, the sale of which is signified by the
term Allan Market. [Hunt, 1881:388]
Similarly, in the 20th century:
Allantide was still a popular occasion in my Newlyn childhood, and extra-large
'Allan Apples' very much in demand. The older girls put them under their pillows to dream of
their sweethearts. While boys hung them on a string and took large bites! [Williams, 1987:98]
The peeling of an apple (or occasionally an orange) so that the peel remains in one long
strip, which is then thrown over the shoulder to form the initial of a potential husband
on the ground, is a widely reported activity, particularyly at Hallowe'en.
'At midnight,' says a 14-year-old in Aberdeen, 'all the girls line up in front
of the mirror. One by one each girl brushes her hair three times. While she is doing this
the man who is to be her husband is supposed to look over her shoulder. If this happens the
girl will be married within the year'. 'After they have done this' continues the young
Aberdonian, 'each girl peels an apple, the peel must be thrown over her left shoulder
with her right hand. This is supposed to form the initial of her husband-to-be.' [Opie, 1959:53]
In Cornwall a more rough and ready method of divination was used:
An apple pip flicked into the air indicated the lover's home, so long
as this verse was used [Deane and Shaw, 1975:53]: North, south, east, west, /
Tell me where my love does rest.
Similarly, in Lancashire:
In order to ascertain the abode of a lover, the anxious inquirer moves
round in a circle, squeezing an apple pippin between finger and thumb, which, on pressure
being employed, flies from the rind in the supposed direction of the lover's residence.
The following doggerel is repeated during the operation:
Pippin, pippin, paradise,
Tell me where my true love lies,
East, west, north or south,
Pilling brig or Cocker-mouth.
|
That the reply may be corroborated, the inquirer afterwards shakes another
pippin between the closed hands, and, on ascertaining the direction of the point of the
pippin to the point of the compass, the assurance is supposed to be rendered doubly sure,
if the charm works as desired, but not otherwise. [N & Q, 4 ser. 6:340, 1870]
It is recorded that Dorset girls might use an apple pip to test their lovers' fidelity:
If on putting it in the fire, it bursts with the heat she is assured of
his affection; but if it is consummed in silence she may know that he is false. Whilst
they anxiously await the effect the following couplet is usually announced [Udal, 1922:251]:
If you love me, pop and fly; / If you hate me, lay and die.
In 1882 it was recorded that on St. Thomas's Day (21 December), Guernsey girls would use
an apple to obtain a glimpse of their future lovers.
On the day you must take a golden pippin, and having walked backwards to
your bed, and having spoken to no one, you must then place it underneath the pillow,
and St. Thomas will grant to you when asleep a vision of your future consort. On placing
the pippin underneath the pillow, the following charm must be repeated [Stevens Cox, 1971:9]:
Le jour de St. Thomas,
Le plus court, et le plus bas,
Dieu, fais me voir un mon dormant,
Ce que j'aurai pour mon amant.
Montre moi et mon épouse
La maison ou j'habiterai.
|
In Lancashire in the 1980s:
I remember twisting off apple stalks, each time the apple was turned a
letter of the alphabet was said, when the stalk broke that letter was the initial of
the Christian name of the one you were to marry. The broken stalk was then poked into
the apple, counting letters again, when the skin broke that letter was his surname initial.
[Kensington, London, November 1991]
Awd Goggie and Lazy Lawrence were Nursery Bogies which children were warned protected
orchards and unripe fruit. In the East Riding of Yorkshire:
There is another wicked sprite, who comes in most usefully as a protector
of fruit. His name is Awd Goggie, and he specially haunts woods and orchards. It is
evident, therefore, that it is wise on the children's part to keep away from the orchard
at improper times, because otherwise 'Awd Goggie might get them.' [Gutch, 1911:40]
Further south:
Lazy Laurence was a guardian spirit of the orchard, both in Hampshire and
in Somerset. In Hampshire, he sometimes took the form of a colt and chased orchard thieves.
In Somerset, Lazy Laurence seems rather to afflict the thieves with what is described in
one of the night spells as 'Cramps and crookeing and fault in their footing.' The Somerset
proverbial saying runs [Briggs, 1976:262]: Lazy Laurence, let me goo, / Don't hold me
Winter and Summer too.
The Somerset folklorist Ruth Tongue (1898-1981) recorded vague recollections of the Apple-Tree
Man, which was, apparently, the oldest tree in the orchard.
Pitminster was the place where in my childhood I was gravely and proudly
conducted by a farm-child to a very old apple tree in their orchard and told mysteriously
that it was 'the Apple Tree Man'. In 1958 I heard of him again on the Devon-Somerset borders.
[Briggs and Tongue, 1965:44]
The proverb 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' seems to have been first recorded
in the form 'Eat an apple on going to bed. And you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread'
in 1866 [Simpson, 1982:5]. Some west Dorset farming families seem to have taken the injunction
quite literally, for apple dumplings formed a standard part of their daily evening meal, and:
They used to keep the apples from one year so that the last of them could
be made into a pie eaten at the end of sheep shearing time [in May] the following year.
[Thorncombe, Dorset, autumn 1974]
Apples were used in a variety of traditional remedies.
During my childhood in a Pennine village, I was sent to the greengrocer
for a rotten apple— a mouldy one— as a remedy for an obstinate stye.
{Letter from Streatham, London, in Sunday Times, 21 December 1958].
Thoroughly rotten apples were threaded onto chilblained toes to cool
the burning and itch8ing [Lisburn, Co. Antrim, March 1886]
According to my 86-year-old aunt, an apple was placed in a room where
there was smallpox; as the apple went mouldy the smallpox was believed to be transferred
from the patient to it. [Histon, Cambridgeshire, January 1989]
Burning apple wood 'will scent your room with an incense-like perfume' [letter from
Five Ashes, Sussex, in The Times, 1 March 1929] or 'will fill your room with the
gentlest of perfume' [letter from Middle Winnersh, Berkshire, in TV Times, 23 December 1989].
— Roy Vickery, A Dictionary of Plant-Lore
Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1995, pp. 4-13 [GR780.V53.1997(IC)]
***************************************************************************************
APPLE
(.jpg) )
The true apple, Malus sylvestris, is not cultivated in China; the varieties
found are more akin to M. prunifolia, being handsome in appearance but of poor flavor.
The wild crab-apple M. baccata, is very abundant in the North.
The small cherry-apple, Pyrus spectabilis, is also common.
Apple blossom is sometimes employed as a decorative motive, and is
regarded as an emblem of feminine beauty. On account of the similarity in the sound
of the Chinese word for "apple" p'ing
(.jpg) ),
and "peace" p'ing
(.jpg) )—
the gift of
a few apples suggests the idea of perpetual concord, and is equivalent to the greeting
"Peace be with you".
— C.A.S. Williams, Encyclopedia of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motives
Julian Press, New York, 1960, p. 18 (original 1932), [GR335.W53.1961(IC)]
***************************************************************************************
APPLE & APPLE SYMBOLISM FROM THE WEB:
• Wikipedia: Apple (symbolism)
(Mythology & religion, Greek: Apple of Discord, Norse, Celtic, Legends, folklore & traditions)
• Wikipedia: Apple
(Botany, History, Culture, Apple cultivars, Production, Commerce, Consumption, Health benefits)
• Apple Facts (Institute of Food Research, UK)
(History of Apples, Apple Market, Apples in Science, Nutrition Info, Apples & Health, Products)
• Apple (1911 Encyclopedia Britannica)
(Dessert Apples & Kitchen Apples with their ripening months)
• The Symbolism of the Apple in Greek and Roman Literature
[By A.R. Littlewood, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 72 (1968), 147-181]
• Three Apples Fell from Heaven
[By Anne M. Avakian, Folklore, Vol. 98 (1987), 95-98]
• Apple Symbolism and Legends (By Kathleen Karlsen, 6-3-2010)
(Dessert Apples & Kitchen Apples with their ripening months)
• Traditional Themes and Motifs in Literature (By Tina Blue, 2-5-2001)
(Apple as a symbol of deadly seduction, of innocence betrayed: Snow White & Eve)
• Apple Symbolism and Legends (By Kathleen Karlsen, 9-11-2007)
(Apple blossom is the state flower for Arkansas, symbol of love, youth, beauty, & happiness)
• What does an apple symbolize in literature? (Yahoo Answers)
(Girl bites apple at end of Eudora Welty's story "A Visit of Charity")
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