THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Pomegranate

Lisa Karen Miller

          When Persephone was snatched by Hades and taken to the underworld he ruled, her mother Demeter searched the earth for her, fruitlessly.  The goddess of grains neglected her duties while she searched for her daughter, causing the earth to grow cold and all green things to die.

          Persephone refused to eat or drink anything offered by her captor until he promised to reunite her with her mother.  He then offered her a ripe, red pomegranate, of which she ate six seeds.

          Thereafter, she was doomed to spend six months in the underworld, when the earth would grow cold and dark, and six months above ground, when the sun brought the earth into flower again.

          The Chinese flower of June also serves as a symbol of posterity. The pomegranate has long signified life, death, and resurrection, the same cycle living things on earth pass through, endlessly.

          The vermillion flower is the emblem of Spain. Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, wore a pomegranate brooch, and Henry had this emblem placed on his shield.  After he divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, all the pomegranate carvings in his palaces were replaced by Anne’s symbol, the white falcon.

          Monasteries often had physic gardens, where they grew plants for healing.  Many still ascribed to the Doctrine of Signatures, the belief that plants gave some outward sign of the part of the body they were intended to cure.

A peeled pomegranate resembles the human jaw, with its seeds mimicking teeth, so it was used for complaints of the mouth. The many seeds also gave a nod to fertility, so those who wanted children were advised to eat this fruit.

          Monks, especially the Benedictines, favored making tinctures, so they could heal people even when the fresh plant wasn’t available, in winter especially. A tincture is the essence of the plant preserved in alcohol.  It is from these that most of our liqueurs and cordials got their start.

          These became associated with winter, when people were susceptible to more complaints.  Being cooped up in a small house with little air flow made contagion spread easily. Eventually, they became popular Christmas gifts, and still are today.

          A tincture of sweet pomegranate juice was called Grenadine, still used as a cocktail mixer today.

          Pomegranate syrup is made from boiling the pulp, and gives both flavor and aroma to Middle Eastern dishes. The Indian condiment anardana is made from dried seeds. The fruit, rind, and bark all yield fabric dyes.

          The pomegranate is making a comeback as a health-giving fruit.

          Best eaten above ground, though.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller