Apple Lore

Apples and apple trees have played an important part in world folklore. Almost universally, the apple represents wisdom or long life.

Eve is said to have tempted Adam with an apple. In the Biblical story, the apple was the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When Adam partook of that knowledge he lost his innocence and was cast out of Paradise.

In Norse mythology, the Goddess Idun cares for the golden apples of immortality.

In many faery stories an apple represents much more than a simple fruit. Examples of folk tales featuring apples are:
Snow White
Mother Hulda

Many Pagans believe that the afterlife or the time between lives is spent on Avalon, the Island of Apples. Pagans don't look at the time spent between incarnations as a time of evaluation or punishment, but as a time of rest and joy spent in a beautiful setting among apple orchards which bear fruit and flower at the same time. The legend has it that at the end of King Arthur's life, his body was taken to Avalon to rest until the time when Britian has most need of him.

Divinition can be done with apples. Many of the apple games which are played at Samhain can also be played at Mabon.

In the British Isles it was believed that if a girl went into her room at midnight on October 31, sat down in front of her mirror, cut an apple into nine pieces and held each slice on the point of her knife before eating it, she could look in the mirror and see the face of her future husband looking back.

Another way of using apples to predict marital bliss is to peel an apple, being careful to keep the peel in one continuous piece. The peel is tossed over the left shoulder. It is believed that the peel will form the first letter of name of the person's future mate.

Bobbing for apples is a favorite Halloween activity, particularly in the United States. A large tub such as a wash tub is filled with water and apples are floated on the top. Players hold their hands behind their backs and try to catch an apple using only their teeth. Several people bob for apples simultaneously and the first to catch an apple is believed to have good luck throughout the coming year.

The English continue a custom which clearly has it's origins in pagan times. The English "snap" for apples by hanging a pole from the ceiling. At one end of the pole is fixed an apple, at the other end is a lit candle. The pole is then spun in a circle as contestants try to catch a bite of the apple. Halloween is still often referred to as "Snap-Apple Night" in many rural English communities and as "Apple and Candle Night" in Wales.