(Originally written for the Philosphical Research Society's PRS Journal)
Halloween is a holiday that falls upon us each year with reactions and feelings that are about as mixed as a bag of assorted candy. Some opt out of the celebrations due to their macabre nature and pagan history. Some choose to reform the holiday to represent solely the fall or harvest season. Others embrace it for all that it is within this current day and age, as well as embracing pagan festivities that may have been part of its celebration for time immemorial. Within its many cryptic traditions, one, in particular, has transformed from its pagan roots to become one of the most wholesome and family-friendly aspects of the festivities. Though obscure, the history of bobbing for apples contains hidden meanings that call us to go beyond playing the game so that we may rediscover the philosophical lessons waiting to be exhumed from obscurity. “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” —Oliver Wendel Holmes Jr. Before the invasion and subsequent Roman conquest of Western Europe, the territories known as Gaul were ruled by many clans and tribes who cycled through periods of peace and war, sometimes uniting briefly to defeat a common enemy. Although they all had colloquial names for their tribes and nations, early Greek and Roman authors referred to them collectively as the Celts. Most of these Celtic tribes revered an ancient shamanic priesthood of druids, who had a profound, influential role within their communities. They were wise, mature men and women who facilitated diplomatic relations, settled disputes by presiding over trials as judges, and acted as advisors and mediators. They also established medicinal clinics, employing their knowledge of herbal medicine to treat ailments. As religious leaders, they conducted rituals, festivals, and ceremonies that were vital for maintaining the health of the community at large by appeasing the gods and balancing other forces that they believed lay beyond the physical realm. The druids, like many other ancient cultures, believed that the sun's rays kept the astral, or lunar world in a limited or weakened state throughout most of the year. As winter approached, the Sun's power decreased, causing the veil that separated the astral from the material realm to thin, resulting in increased supernatural phenomena, sickness, and death. The uncertainty of survival created a sociological need for the priests to intercede on behalf of the people via appealing to the gods for mercy and asking spirits for wisdom so they may survive the winter season. It was common then to practice divination, or fortune telling, to forecast the future and glean a sign of what was to come, to better prepare the community for the obstacles ahead. Typical forms of this practice were the casting of stones, runes, bones, or dice that the querent would interpret through the art of geomancy–the practice of interpreting the occult meanings of shapes and numbers to gain insight. The ancients perceived the results of these workings as direct instructions from the otherworld. After the Romans conquered most of these territories, their beliefs and customs were assimilated into local traditions. The druids' reverence for the apple paired well with Rome's adoration of the goddesses Pomona and Venus, who were both represented by either pears or apples. The apple was thus considered a symbol of love, prosperity, wisdom, and fortune, and was integrated into harvest celebrations to be used as a kind of courting ritual, and as a means of divination. Today, we understand how vital marital union was to our ancestors. Marriage determined what resources were available during times of hardship. If one house lacked a necessity, like meat, for example, they could appeal to extended family for aid. If there was something that the other family also needed, say wood or salt, the families could each help the other through trade or charity. In this way, apple trees were also symbolic of cultivating a bountiful and unbroken family tree. Maintaining a long-lasting line meant more in the days of yesteryear than it does today. During Samhain, the harvest festival of the Celts, single men and women gathered together for a game of bobbing for apples. Players formed groups around barrels filled with the sacred fruit and water, then their hands were tied behind their backs. At the direction of the priest or priestess facilitating the game, they would dunk their heads into the water and attempt to bite into and retrieve as many apples as possible. The man and woman with the most apples by the end of the game were the winners. An alternative version of the game would segregate the players into groups of their respective genders and bob for apples that had the names of the opposite gendered players written on them in wax. The apple you picked was who you would pair with, ideally, throughout the rest of the festival. This game created an opportunity for single and available people to meet and potentially kindle a courtship. If all went as planned, you would be married before the end of autumn, and the patriarchs of each family could sleep a little easier at night knowing their kin were better off than before. To those who didn’t immediately begin courtship, the game was also seen as a promise from the gods that if they did well in the game, they would soon meet their soulmate or, at the very least, find good fortune. If one did poorly, it could be perceived as a sign that winter would likely be a harsh one for them and their family. Why did the ancients put so much faith in this humble fruit? Apples are a symbol of knowledge. One might recall the Semitic biblical story of Genesis regarding the fall of man due to the consumption of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, usually depicted as an apple. Awareness of morality was believed to be privy only to the Creator and his angelic hosts. However, it is said that the primordial man and woman became awakened to it because of their curiosity, ambition, and disobedience. The Greeks and Romans had their own story of humankind’s acquisition of sacred knowledge due to an act of disobedience through the myth of Prometheus. By understanding these stories, we may begin to extrapolate the deeper meanings within the game of apple bobbing. The water in the bucket represents chaos and darkness or a state of living in ignorance, becoming lost in the trap that is the material world. The act of bobbing for apples is symbolic of the seeker who willingly and intentionally dives into the realm of the unknown in search of knowledge, enlightenment, and wisdom, which can only be obtained when they have taken a leap of faith into the void. How rewarding and delicious it is for the Seeker when, after much struggle and searching, they finally bite into the sweet fruit of knowledge to behold the glory of truth and understanding. Apples conceal a hidden symbol that often goes unnoticed. As any first grader in a cafeteria lunchroom will tell you, when you split an apple in half, transversely, one can see the recognizable shape of the five-pointed star, also known as a pentagram, displayed in the center of its core. The star hidden within the core contains the seeds of the fruit’s origins, adding to the gravity of its meaning. Like the star and seeds of the apple, we hold the elemental seeds of life within us, passed down from our celestial parent, the star of our solar system, the Sun. This occurs in the form of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and magnesium, all of which come from the Sun. These are the most abundant elements in our universe and are the building blocks of biological life here on Earth. According to American philosopher Manly P. Hall, the pentagram corresponds to the “Pentagrammaton,” יהשוה (spelled YHSVH and pronounced Yahshua), and represents the five senses, the five digits of the hands, the five projections of the human body, and the power of Christ Consciousness. This five-pointed shape represents the rectified and perfected person who displays the virtues of balanced thought, tempered emotion, squared action, and a just character which elevates them toward the stars, making them the masters of their own destiny. When we rectify our own pentagram, we liberate ourselves from much of our suffering in this world. This concept of achieving spiritual sovereignty is one of the focal points behind the teachings of Jesus, whose name in its proper Hebrew is also Yahshua. Christ’s challenge to the seeker is to separate and purify the inner self through virtue and compassion so that the material and mundane world has no grip upon what is rightfully theirs, that kingdom of God, or state of wholeness and peace that lies within each of us. These teachings are not exclusive to the Middle East. They also come to us from under the banner of the Yogic and Vedantic practices of Hinduism and the mindful meditations of Buddhism. All of the lessons displayed by these institutions show us just how powerful something as simple as a fruit can be when placed in the hands of those with eyes willing to see and ears that are willing to hear the lessons left behind by our ancient ancestors under the guise of tradition. Though some may see this game of apple bobbing as just another part of the celebration of Halloween, those who can see beneath the surface of the waters of ignorance may find something that, for many, is a lost doctrine. In today's world of instant gratification, fast food politics, fast food media, and fast-food ideologies, it is easy to accept the mundane veneer of things without appreciating the deeper meanings that beg to be unearthed from the sepulcher of antiquity. There are countless examples of this in our daily lives, especially within the customs of our holidays. Next time you participate in a celebration, consider the secret teachings waiting to be rediscovered. Happy Halloween!
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