October has been dubbed Pear & Pineapple Month..png)
[click in image to expand, download, print, and color]
(But since pineapples seem more summery to us, we're just going to focus on pears)
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Here are some historical stories and folklore tales about pears
Trees bearing witness to bloodshed
In England, folklore whispers of "bloody pears" growing on trees at sites of battles or murders.
One such tree, located near Ellesmere in Shropshire, is said to have borne fruit stained red, supposedly because a woman murdered her daughter and buried her beneath its roots.
Similarly, a pear tree at the site of the Battle of Evesham in Worcestershire is believed to have commemorated the event with red-streaked fruit.
A tree linked to empires
A Pyrus communis at Unsterburg, Austria, reportedly blossomed and bore fruit only when the Holy Roman Empire flourished.
When the empire was dissolved in 1806, the tree remained barren for decades, only to miraculously blossom again when a new empire was established in 1871.
The cunning Taoist and the pear seller
A Chinese folk tale recounts a Taoist priest who, after being denied a pear by a stingy seller, used magic to make a pear tree sprout from a pip, grow, and bear fruit instantly.
He then distributed all the pears to the onlookers, even cutting down the tree itself, which turned out to be the pear seller's own cart and remaining pears, leaving the greedy vendor with nothing.
Pear leaves as the original "peace pipe"
Before the introduction of tobacco to Europe, many people smoked pear leaves.
Beyond their mildly sweet taste, they were valued for their symbolic connection to inner peace and happiness.
Pears and marriage traditions
In some European cultures, it was customary to plant a fruit tree at a wedding, with the longevity and fruitfulness of the trees thought to bestow strength to the marriage.
In a more specific tradition, an apple tree was planted for every boy and a pear tree for each girl born to the couple.
The video below explains The Curious Story Behind Boston’s Strange Pear Statue