Happy Under Apple Trees - Paramor Orchard Picnic Day 2025

Villain or hero?

Anyone know the Latin for apple? Malus. In Latin, both “an apple” and “an evil” are written as malum. Pronounce it with a long 'a', it’s apple. With a short 'a', it’s evil. In the 17th Century, scholars reckoned that this quirky word play may well be why the apple got slapped with the baddie sticker in more modern accounts of the story where Eve pinches the forbidden fruit!

But is this fair? Is our humble apple truly a villain, or our hero?

Who has heard the saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'? Apples are a great source of nutrients, helping with digestion, brain health and protection against cancer, heart disease and diabetes, so definitely hero in this instance. Talking of heroes, if we look to our myths and legends, we'll see the apple a day keeping nothing less than death away! Idun, in Norse mythology, tended a cracking crop of golden apples that kept the gods immortal. The Garden of Hesperides, in Greek myth, provided the same. I'm tempted to consider that kind of fruit infallible, not brand it the baddie!

Bible

Trouble seems always to come when beings start interfering with the apples. We all know the tale of Eve and the tasting of a forbidden fruit. Click here for that story.

Greek myth

In another instance, a goddess with the job of meddling - Eris, Goddess of Strife - also had an apple in her hand. One simple flick of the wrist, one apple tossed, three grumpy goddesses and a very unwise wedding later, and we've got ourselves the fall of the entire city of Troy and the death of many. Click here to listen to the story.

Norse myth

Then there's poor Idun in the Norse stories, happily tending their apples of immortality, but pinched by a giant after being lured out of Asgard by Loki when he tells her there's an apple tree to rival hers nearby (click here to listen to that story). One non-consensual flight held tight in the claws of an eagle, and a period of imprisonment in a dark and gloomy castle, and Idun was finally rescued by the Loki in the form of a falcon. Phew. Nobody needed that.

So here we see apples as the cause of various crises, but only because gods and mortals got involved. And despite their role in causing confusion and chaos in these stories, one things becomes quite clear.

Apples are important. They play big parts in our stories because they matter to humans.

When things matter, they are mapped into into our stories. In An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Katharine Briggs points out that, “Nearly all trees have some sacred association from very early times, but some are more sacred than others.” She highlights the apple tree as one which had “specially magical qualities” and was associated with “power and youth.” Stepping aside of the Norse and Greek myths to search closer to home in our own native stories, we can go to Somerset where that the oldest apple-tree in the orchard is called 'The Apple-Tree Man' (click here to read it), or Wales for the legend of the Lady in the Lake.

The Lady of the Lake

While stopping at a lake on a hot day to let his horse drink, a farmer spotted a water nymph just below the surface of the water. Totally enchanted by her beauty, he proceeded to visit that same lake for many days, hoping to see her again. One day, while sat quietly munching an apple of rare and delicious quality, the water nymph called to him, asking for an apple. He offered out said apple, and when she reached for it, he seized her with his other hand!

She yelled for help, and a most respectable looking old gentleman appeared suddenly out of the midst of the lake. This was her father. He asked what was wrong. The farmer explained that he was in love and wished to marry the gentleman’s daughter. After a long discussion, the water nymph agreed to become the young man's wife on two conditions: 1) that he was never to strike her with clay (earth), and 2) he was never to strike her with iron .

Her father married them right then and there, and this lady of the lake went to live on land with her new husband. Their eldest son became a great physician, the second son was an excellent iron craftsman, one daughter invented the harp, while the other daughter invented the spinning wheel. Then the legend returns back to their mother, who wanted more of the apples that started this love story.

Her husband went to being back some apples and a young apple tree sapling. As they planted the tree, the farmer threw a shovelful over his shoulder straight into his wife! Clay hit her and so one of the conditions was breached!

Blaming the apple tree sapling, he went to put the bridle on his horse to take it back, but the horse refused to be caught and the couple had to chase it around the field. In a final effort, the farmer threw the bridle to try to catch the horse, but missed and hit in the face his wife with the iron bit! Second condition broken!

The wife cried out, then bid her husband farewell, fled down the hill with lightning speed, dashed into the lake, and disappeared beneath the smooth and glassy waters.

An apple began her married life, and an apple brought about its end.

King Arthur

If you need a King Arthur hit then look no further than 'Le Morte D’Arthur: King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table' by Thomas Malory, in which Morgan Le Fay, along with four of her friends, discovers Sir Lancelot asleep under one such apple tree, falls in love with him. Le Fay weaves a spell that keeps Sir Lancelot asleep, carries him to her castle and imprisons him. Once he wakes, the four queens demand that he choose one of them to be his love or else lose his life. Ever the noble knight, Sir Lancelot replies he’d rather die, and says, “… I will have none of you, for ye be false enchantresses.” He escapes with the help of another fair maiden, but it's a reminder that we didn't leave peril and threat behind when we sought stories about apples closer to home.

Wassailing

We can't possibly talk about apples without touching upon the tradition of wassailing.

There are two types of wassailing in the UK: the type where people go door to door (like the Mari Llwyd in Wales), and the type where people visit the orchards to sing to, dance around, libate and toast the trees to ensure the health of the apple harvest in the coming year. We do this at home - we even shoot the shotgun to scare away any evil spirits! (We don't put toast soaked in cider in the branches as an offering to the good ones though, perhaps we should include that next year!) Here's the song we sing...

“Wassail, wassail, all round the town,

Our cup it is white, our ale it is brown,

Our bowl is made of the good old ash tree,

So now my brave fellows, let’s drink unto thee”

Magic

We love the ritual and ceremony of the whole thing because it feels magic! Talking of magic, did you know that if you slice the fruit in half horizontally, the seeds form a pentagram? This symbol of a five pointed star mathematically exhibits what is known as 'the golden ratio' - considered as especially aesthetically pleasing - and perhaps the reason why apples are seen as symbols of perfection and protection. Apple wood is also considered a good material for tools for working with the fae and the Otherworld and, in modern European-based witchcraft, apples are used for fertility, healing, divination, wisdom, and knowledge. In some traditions, they are used for ancestor veneration and workings related to the dead.

Being blessed with such sweet fruit, the apple tree is also closely associated with fertility. It's hardly a surprise to learn that apples are frequently used for love divination. If you can peel an apple in one continuous piece, toss the peel over your shoulder and say, “Saint Simon and Saint Jude, on you I intrude, with this paring to discover, the first letter of my own true lover.” The peel should then falls into the shape of your true love’s initial. Another bit of love magic involves cutting an apple into nine equal pieces and eating them while staring at yourself in the mirror. If you pierce the last piece with a knife and hold it over your shoulder, an apparition of your true love may just appear in the mirror to take it. A slightly less creepy approach would be to take a branch of apple blossom (which always smells divine) and pop it under your pillow to dream of your future spouse.

Whatever you choose to do with your apple tree, orchard or tasty mid-morning treat, it will be enjoyable. The apple never fails to please. Never mind anyone person being the 'apple of my eye'. When it comes to fetching yourself a queen of fruits, I've got my eye on the apple!