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Wow, what another incredible season at Tanners Orchard! We saw a lot of new memories being made at Tanners this year and celebrated the fall season plenty with family and friends. Yet, even as we close our doors and settle in for the holidays, we can’t keep apples out of our minds. However, we’re not the only ones who can’t stop thinking about apples during the holidays. A surprising amount of religions and cultures incorporate apples as part of their holiday traditions! We’ve gathered a few of these traditions to share with you and maybe try for yourselves during this year’s festivities.
Fruits of all types share the spotlight in how people celebrate the holidays worldwide. From cranberries to pumpkins, there’s no shortage of fruits that adorn our homes and make it to our plates during winter. However, few fruits have more significance during seasonal celebrations than apples. Why is that? What’s the staying power of apples? How did this deliciously sweet and tart fruit become so closely tied to the Christmas season?
The use of apples during the holidays dates back to Germany in the 15th century, with the introduction of what would eventually become the Christmas Tree. During the Middle Ages in Germany, the Eastern Church would put on feasts every year on December 24th that recognized Adam and Eve, the first man and woman and the first saints of their faith. The feast would be a day of bountiful food and entertainment in the form of “Paradise Plays.” These plays would depict the story from creation until God’s promise of the Incarnation, and they were meant to educate those who were illiterate and could not read the gospel themselves.
In addition to the feast, an evergreen fir was decorated with red apples, tinsel, gingerbread, and communion wafers. This was called a Paradise Tree and was tied into the “Paradise Plays” performed during the Adam and Eve Feasts. The Paradise Trees would represent the Garden of Eden, and the apples, the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve ate.
Entering the 16th century, the Feast of Adam and Eve was discontinued by the Roman Catholic Church, including the practice of decorating Paradise Trees (then called Christ Trees). However, despite the absence of Adam and Eve Feasts, many Catholic families continued decorating Christ Trees in the home. Eventually, the Catholic Church gave in to the tradition of Christ Trees, adding their own spin to how they should be adorned. While communion wafers were out and replaced with hearts, angels, and stars made from pastry dough, apples remained as decorations.
Over the decades, the tradition of decorating a fir tree during December took further root in families across Germany. Combining Christ Trees with another German Christmas tradition, the Christmas pyramid, families began adding more and more ornaments, lights, and figurines to their fir trees. And in the 1800s, German settlers introduced the Christmas Tree as we know it to the United States.
Of course, it’s more than Germany and the U.S. that decorate Christmas Trees. The tradition has become popular in many countries worldwide, including using apples (now mostly glass) as ornaments. In fact, apples have become part of countless cultural holiday traditions, not always related to Christianity, fir trees, or decorations. Here are a few examples of holiday traditions that use apples:
The Jewish Faith
Apples take a central role in many of the holidays celebrated by those practicing the Jewish faith. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, incorporates apples and honey into its customs, as the combination symbolizes hope for a sweet year ahead. Apples are also used as a nod to Adonai (the name of God in Judaism) and the creation of fruit-bearing trees amid all creation.
The Czech Republic
To “predict the future” and see what the year ahead has in store, denizens of the Czech Republic engage in the tradition of apple cutting. It seems simple, but there’s slightly more to the tradition than you might think. After Christmas dinner, families of Czechs give everyone an apple to cut lengthwise. If an apple is cut and the seeds reveal a star pattern inside, the person cutting is destined to have good health in the following year. However, finding a cross pattern can signify trouble and health struggles ahead.
China
Although there is a small portion of practicing Christians in China, that doesn’t stop Christmas from being celebrated commercially. Even without an official celebration of Christmas in China, many Chinese citizens have still developed unique traditions for the season, one such that involves apples. Christmas Eve is called Ping’an Ye in China, meaning “peaceful evening.” This name directly references the classic Christmas carol “Silent Night.” But where do apples come into play?
In Mandarin Chinese, the word for apple (ping guo) sounds incredibly similar to the word for peace (ping’an). Recognizing this similarity, the Chinese combined the two terms to create peace apples and began gifting apples to friends and family in carefully wrapped boxes on Christmas Eve. Those who eat these gifted peace apples are expected to see a safe and peaceful new year.
Whether you’re looking to add more color to your Christmas Tree or wish to ring in the new year with luck and peace, you ought to make apples a part of your family’s holiday traditions. Otherwise, apples are a great addition to many seasonal dishes and holiday desserts! To learn more about apples (and some incredible recipes that use them), see the Tanners Orchard website and some of our other blogs!
From everyone at Tanners Orchard, we wish you a happy, healthy, and blessed holiday season. We can’t wait to see you next year!