Halloween Apples

Halloween festivities have many connections to the natural world. When the Romans came to Britain they brought with them their goddess Pomona. She was the goddess of fruit and trees.  The Celts celebrated their New Year at this time. It is likely that the Roman and Celtic combined their beliefs. One of Pomona’s symbols was an apple. One thing that lots of children enjoy is bobbing for halloween apples. According to tradition the first to bite into an apple would be the first person to marry. An alternative version is to have an apple hanging from a string, rather than floating in water. Also, another custom is to peel the apple, and the longer the skin that came off in one piece, the longer you would live, or the shape of the peel could predict the letter of your future spouse.

On my woodland wanderings recently, I have come across apples scattered across the leaf litter. Some had clearly been there for a while, and there was a distinct smell of vinegar. There were so many different colours on their skins. One looked as though it had veins, and was very halloween like in its appearance. Nature really is the best artist.