Oh gosh, don't they look good. It's been years since I had a candy apple, and sadly, I probably never will have another one, but I will always have my memories. You'd never believe that I used to absolutely LOVE apples to see me now. Matter of fact, I have no recollection when I had my last one. That's how long ago it was. But even though I am unable to munch on a nice juicy apple, they are still magically important to me. My Celtic ancestors wassailed (saluted) their apple trees with a hearty wassail made of a good hard cider which had been heated with spices and and apples which floated on top. This was to insure they had a good harvest in the coming year. The apples, once they were heated enough, would burst their skins and the white flesh frothed on top of the wassail. (Doesn't that sound good?) And, wassailing was also performed at Samhain as well as at Yule. Samhain was the original New Year on the Celtic calendar, but several of the traditions, such as wassailing, was shifted to Yuletide when their calendar was changed.
Apples also have quite a history of being used for healing. As the old saying goes, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Apples have been especially beneficial and curing warts. Slice the apple in half and rub both halves over the wart to be cured. Then, put the two halves back together again and bury them within the earth while reciting an spell to the effect that as the apple wastes away, so will the wart.
When I lived in my other apartment where I had my magical garden (yes, a magical garden in the midst of Brooklyn, New York), I had an apple tree which was truly overwhelming to me since I hadn't had one since I was a child, we would harvest the fruits, (there wouldn't be much) and then complete the day with a meal that featured apples...such as apple sauce, apple pie, steamed apples with cinnamon.
And, before I close, one last little childhood tale to share with you. It was Halloween night, and my friends and I had been out 'trick or treating'. I had a quite a full bag of candy and other treats. I was so tired, I didn't even bother to sort the loot, but went straight off to bed with my bag of treasures. Now, there is no way a child is not going to want to taste his/her treats on Halloween night, so after mom put out my light, I got up and reached into the bag and took out a nice crunchy apple. Imagine that. Not candy, but an apple. Before the eve was done, I'd eaten 7 of them and had an upset tummy that kept me home from school for two days. The lesson learned was, "Your greed always catches up to you."
Seven apples!! It's a wonder you didn't burst and froth as if you were in a wassail bowl, LOL! Is that history of excess why you don't eat apples today? Once when I was a kid, I pigged out on a whole bag of a particular type of cookie and was horribly sick as a result. I've never been able to bring myself to eat one of those cookies since.
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