Jason Mankey
When I lived in Michigan, visiting the local apple orchard was like an annual pilgrimage. Sometime after the first frost in September we’d head out to spend a day among the apple trees. Michigan is home to a variety of apples, and we’d stock up on several varieties—some for just eating and others for pies. No trip to the orchard was complete without stopping to see the fresh (non-alcoholic, non-filtered) cider being made, and of course we had to drink some as well.
Mabon: Gather Round the Apple Tree
Apple trees can be found worldwide but were first cultivated in central Asia from a wild ancestor. Today there are over seven thousand different varieties of apples, though most grocery stores only carry a handful of varietals. Throw ten apple seeds into a pot and the resulting trees will produce ten different kinds of apples, most of them inedible. Because of this most of the apples we eat today are the result of trees that have been grafted together. Grafting involves joining the rootstock of a young apple tree onto a living branch from an established variety. The end result will be a tree that produces the fruit from the branch that was added to the rootstock.
Even with the popularity of grafting, apples continue to be grown from seeds; it’s how we find new varietals! During America’s westward expansion, settlers were required by law to grow apple (or pear) trees on their property. Figures like the legendary Johnny Appleseed cultivated small apple orchards grown from seeds on the outside edge of westward expansion and would then sell their baby trees to settlers so those pioneers could meet the “grow an orchard of fifty trees” requirement (Means 2011, 88). Even though most of the apples that resulted from these orchards were not fit for eating, the resulting fruit would be turned into (hard) cider and “applejack” a type of highly alcoholic brandy. It was thought that a settler who could produce their own booze would be a settler likely to stay for a while.
Apples show up in both mythology and folktales. Most of us are familiar with the evil queen who poisons Snow White with a venomous apple that causes near eternal slumber, but not every story involving the apple is negative. The apple is often portrayed as the fruit produced by the “tree of knowledge,” which is then eaten by Eve and Adam in the Bible’s Garden of Eden. Eating that apple gets the biblical pair kicked out of Eden but gives them the ability to discern good from evil. In most monotheistic traditions this is seen as a negative, but Christian Gnostics viewed the eating of the apple as essential for awakening humanity’s collective consciousness.
The famous Trojan War is the result of a particularly beautiful, or perhaps cursed, apple. Upset at not being invited to a wedding feast, the goddess Eris tossed a golden apple into the party inscribed with the words “for the most beautiful.” This apple of discord sparked an argument between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera over just who was the most beautiful and could thus claim the apple. Too wise to make such a judgement himself, the god Zeus appointed the city of Troy’s Prince Paris to render a decision on the most beautiful goddess. Paris chose Aphrodite, and she rewarded Paris with the love of Helen (the most beautiful mortal woman in the world), who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta, thus sparking the hostilities between Greece and Troy.
In Norse mythology, the goddess Iðunn (also spelled Idunn and Ydun) was the goddess of apples and eternal youth. Iðunn guarded and cultivated the apples that kept the Norse gods forever young. Not surprisingly, the other gods were very protective of her. It’s possible that in some way it’s Iðunn who inspired the popular phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
The most famous apple goddess is probably Pomona, the Roman goddess of orchards and fruit. Pomona’s name literally means “fruit” and comes from the Latin word for fruit, pōmus. In French the apple is still linked directly to Pomona, where it’s known as a pomme (one of the few words I remember from high school French class). Pomona’s feast day was November 1, just after Samhain, which may be why apples are still a part of many Samhain and fall gatherings.
Apples are often associated with divination, especially in the fall when they are most abundant. In Great Britain it was believed that slicing and eating an apple at midnight on Halloween would result in the image of a future lover appearing in a mirror. Similar traditions suggest sleeping with an apple under a pillow in order to see a future love in a dream; the apple was then eaten in the morning to make the dream come true. Fall games such as bobbing for apples began as a form of divination. In the original Scottish version, a bobber who ended up with a mouthful of apple was destined to be wed within a year.
Believing that no part of an apple should go to waste, even the seeds (called “pips”) were used for divination. Dropping the pips into a fire while saying the names of potential love interests was said to reveal who one should pursue romantically. If one of the seeds “popped” while a particular name was said, the named individual was thought to be “the one.”
In England, apple trees were so important that they were annually “wassailed” during the (Yuletide) holiday season. Usually occurring just after Christmas, the wassailers would sing songs and give offerings to their apple and pear trees to ensure their continued vitality. Wassailing the trees was also thought to drive bad spirits away from the orchards. Because Yuletide can be overly busy, this is a custom that can be easily adapted and done in the fall and doesn’t even require that you visit an apple tree. All that it requires are sincere words of thanks to your local apple trees, and a gift of some kind, generally alcoholic and including apples.
Perhaps my favorite way to celebrate with apples in the fall is to serve them during rituals and proclaim them “the Witch’s fruit.” The most common symbol of Witchcraft, the pentagram (a five-pointed star) is naturally a part of most apples. Cut an apple in half at its middle (the “top” of the apple being the stem) and you’ll reveal the pentagram for all to see. For this reason, and dozens of others, apples and their goddesses are popular with Witches and Pagans every autumn. Hail the apple!
References
Boyer, Corinne. Under the Witching Tree. London: Troy Books, 2016.
Mankey, Jason. Llewellyn’s Little Book of Yule. Woodbury MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2020.
Means, Howard. Johnny Appleseed: The Man, The Myth, the American Story. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011.
Skal, David, J. Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween. New York: Bloomsbury Books, 2002.