The Mythology of Fruit
Who would have thought that these simple wonders from the earth could carry so many stories across so many cultures! From China, Iran, Greece, and Norway through to England, Switzerland and more - fruit has often represented abundance, fertility, and plentitude as well as earthly pleasure, overindulgence and temptation.
Specific kinds of fruit have acquired their own meanings in world mythology - here are some of the myths and legends that have touched me with their significance.
Persephone and the Pomegranate - a Greek myth.
Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, and Zeus, the king of the gods. One day, while she was picking flowers, she was abducted by Hades to the underworld.
When her father, Demeter, finally got her back he asked her if she had eaten anything while she was there. Persephone admitted that she had eaten a pomegranate seed at the urging of Hades just before she left.
This was a trick by Hades - anyone who ate his food was required to remain in the underworld. Because of this, Persephone was required to spend one-third of each year in the underworld as the wife of Hades, and two-thirds of the year with her mother Zeus.
While Persephone is with Demeter and Zeus on Olympus the ground is fertile and the crops grow - Spring and Summer. When she returns to the underworld, the ground becomes colder and less fertile until her return - Autumn and Winter.
So according to the myth, it was a one pomegranate seed that sealed Persephone’s fate as Queen of the Underworld and the ushering in of Autumn and Winter, when the seeds lie underground awaiting again the fertile warm months of Spring and Summer.
Pagan myth about apples - coming soon
The Magic Orange Tree - from Haiti
There was once a girl whose mother died when she was born. Her father then married a woman who was so mean that she didn’t feed the girl properly and the girl was often hungry.
One day the girl came home from school and saw three round, ripe oranges on the table. They were so good that the girl ate all three. Then her stepmother came home and she was very angry.
The girl was very frightened and ran through the woods to her own mother’s grave. She cried and prayed to her mother and then fell asleep.
In the morning, as she got up, an orange pit dropped to the ground and a green leaf sprouted from it. The girl watched, amazed. She sang to the tree and it grew curving branches, beautiful white blossoms and many oranges. The girl was delighted and returned home with her arms full of the fruit.
But her stepmother twisted her wrist and made her show where the orange tree was. The stepmother leapt on the tree and ate every orange. The girl saw that there would be no oranges left. What would happen to her then? So she sang to the tree again, and it grew very high with the grandmother on top and the orange tree and the stepmother broke into a thousand pieces.
The girl searched among the broken branches until she found a tiny orange pit. She planted it in the earth and sang to it and it grew again. She picked some oranges and took them to market to sell. The people loved their sweetness and now every Saturday you can see her at the market selling her oranges.
Watemelons, mulberries, olives, pineapples and strawberries are coming - check back soon!
