Apples are sweet, juicy and delicious. The apple is a popular fruit that has been an important character in many myths and folklore throughout the ages. It is probably best known as the fruit that Eve ate from in the Biblical story of Adam, Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The apple has been known as the Fruit of the Gods and the Fruit of the Underworld. It has also been known as a symbol of immortality. In some Wiccan traditions the apple is considered to be a symbol of the soul.
We've all heard the saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” This saying may have its roots in folklore that attributed healing qualities to the legendary apple. It was thought that eating an apple would cure fever as well as other ailments. It was believed that illness could be banished by cutting an apple in three pieces, rubbing them on the affected part of the body and then burying the apple sections.
As a member of the rose family, apples are aptly viewed as a symbol of love. They are also sometimes used as a tool of divination. I remember playing a game as a child that involved an apple. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it as well. You would twist the stem of an apple while saying the letters of the alphabet and when the stem broke, the letter you were saying would indicate the first name of the person you would marry. Little did I know then that this simple game was considered a form of divination.
We find apples again in a Greek myth involving the Goddess Hera and the legendary hero Hercules. The Garden of Hesperides was an orchard where golden apples grew that were said to grant immortality. Hera placed a hundred headed dragon there to safeguard the apples. Hercules had to steal the apples from the garden as one of his twelve labors.
The seed within this beautiful, delicious fruit contains a poisonous cyanide compound but the good news is that you would have to consume massive amounts of the seeds before they would be harmful.
It was supposedly an apple that fell from a tree and hit Sir Isaac Newton in the head that contributed to his work in the Universal Laws of Gravitation. (Some sources say that the apple hit Newton in the head while others claim it did not.) Johnny Appleseed had a dream of a land filled with apple trees where no one was hungry and so he spent many years of his life planting apple seeds everywhere he went.
Apples have even made their appearance in the fairy tales we read our children. For instance, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tells us the story of a beautiful young maiden and a wicked Queen. The Queen is jealous of Snow White after her magic mirror tells her that Snow White is more beautiful than she. The wicked Queen tricks Snow White into eating an apple that has been poisoned. The story has a happy ending as Snow White is awakened after being kissed by a handsome Prince.
Apples have made their way into our myths, folklore and fairy tales. They also provided us with games like bobbing for apples as well as nourishing us with delicious food and beverages such as apple juice and good old-fashioned apple pie. They've made many a teacher smile too as they've been presented with an apple by a student trying to get to the head of the class.
