Pomegranate: History, uses and symbolism

Mythic Reunion

• Yannis Ritsos' version of the Persephone myth describes a strange naming experience.
• Persephone married the king of the dead and ate pomegranate seeds, binding her to the underworld.
• Demeter, in grief, caused crops to fail until Zeus intervened, allowing Persephone's return.
• Persephone's marriage changed her, creating a divide between her and Demeter’s world.
• Demeter notes the voice of her daughter is paler in Edith Wharton's retelling.

Pomegranate Symbolism

• Jane Grigson describes pomegranates as a "closet of juicy seeds."
• Pomegranate seeds have been likened to jewels by poets.
• Jewish lore states that pomegranates contain one seed for each mitzvah (613).
• Pomegranates have been symbols of fertility and featured in wedding rituals across cultures and religions.
• One can see a tapestry of the Unicorn in Captivity, at the Met Cloisters in Manhattan, where a unicorn sits under a pomegranate tree.
• The unicorn’s wounds are not bleeding, but weeping seeds.
• "Garnet" and "grenade" derive from "pomegranate."
• Shrapnel-scattering grenade imitates the seed-scattering explosion of a smashed pomegranate.
• Pomegranate seeds are incisor-shaped and have been believed to relieve oral maladies.
• Culpeper wrote that a strong infusion of pomegranates cures ulcers in the mouth/throat and fastens teeth.
• Early doctors transformed organisms into medicinal resources through The Doctrine of Signatures.
• Modern marketing mines Greek myth instead, selling pomegranate juice as an elixir of youth.

Consumption

• The pomegranate juice has a sweet, acidic, and tannic taste due to tannins.
• Tannins balance acid/sugar and add chewiness.
• Juicing can be done by crushing it then cutting off the top and inserting a straw.
• Eating the seeds requires scoring the peel, then pulling the fruit into quarters.

Fertility

• Pomegranates represent fertility and pauses in fertility in myth and in life.
• Demeter's grief causes crops to die until Persephone returns from the underworld.
• Persephone must return to Hades for part of the year, causing winter. This cycle of death and rebirth is shown through Demeter and Persephone.
• Dioscorides recommended pomegranate seeds and rind as birth control in ancient Greece.
• In 1933 experiments found estrogenic compounds in date palms, later confirmed in pomegranates.
• Rats, when fed pomegranates, experienced a 72% drop in fertility; guinea pigs, a 100% drop.
• The estrogenic compound was found in the skin around the seed/rind, not the seeds, roots, or plant.

Seasonal Change

• The German word for a mood disturbance that people say occurs when spring comes that translates to translated as "spring fatigue”
• Spring is described as violent and linked to resurrection and birth.

Symbolism and Mythology

• In Rachel Zucker's Eating in the Underworld, Persephone leaves Demeter by choice.
• Pomegranates represent the persistence of life and interrupt fertility
• Winter represents daughter growing up into someone you can't understand.
• Winter also means rest.
• The earth is where crops are raised and bodies are buried.
• Pomegranates represent the complete cycle: life and death and life again, returning new, returning transformed.
• A version of Demeter’s myth, mourns her disappearance by letting the crops die.
• Demeter walks among mortals and nothing will grow until her daughter returns, causing another winter.

Religious Perspectives and Medical uses

• The pomegranate symbolizes the source of multitude and the Word of God.
• The pomegranate is an emblem of union, charity, love, humility, and the papacy to convey the union of all the children of the Church.
• A symbol of the Church itself, representing the union of all believers in Christ.
• The Hospitalier Order named Granada will be your cross” which identifies with between the pomegranate and Christ.
• Pomegranates were found associated with grape vines in Carthage
• An emblem of the Eucharist: Pomegranates open inner fruits are like Jesus who offered himself voluntarily to die for humanity
• The ancient book identifies the pomegranate tree root as a powerful antidote, its fruit signifying spiritual fecundity
• Grocery stores start carrying pomegranates before Advent.
• Eating a pomegranate comes with a process while modern liturgy comes in a plastic cup
• Louis Charbonneau-Lassay was a researcher of Christian archaeology and symbolism
• Nelson and Dietrich pomegranate had, in ancient times, of the gift of regeneration.
• Pomegranates in a basket symbolized fecundity/fertility.
• The pomegranate symbolized spiritual fecundity for God and Christ
• The fruit contains all the potential for all thoughts until they are expressed with words.
• In depictions of Mary, a pomegranate illustrates how she is 'the Mother of the Child.'
• A pomegranate, when split open, represents Christ making himself available for being side.
• Pomegranates come with lots of health benefits and has been shown to to boost skin.
• P. granatum comes from Punicus, the Roman Carthaa known origin.
• Punica represents family of loosestrifes.
• It will grow up to five feet if taken care of, with leaves the shape of a needle.

Symbol Meaning

• The pomegranate is linked to Dionysus, the god of wine, pleasure, and ecstasy.
• Romans saw pomegranates as a symbol of marriage..
• In ancient Egypt, pomegranates were in tombs as a symbol of the aferlife
• In Persian, it meant eternal and life fertility.
• There are 613 seeds in bible correspoding to the commandments in the Torah.
• Pomegranates were seen as a source of multitude like the horn of plenty
• The earth is where the food we raise and bury them.
• Some find joy and fun while eating it, others found it weird and messy

Social and Cultural Context

• Some research even purposes that Pomegranates were forbidden from Eve of the christian bible instead of apples
• Eating pomegranate is a chosen jounrney and a woman is showing self actualization and honoring her spirit.
• Pomegranates come with a great taste
• They promote physical well being
• They help with spiritual healing
• They show a symbol of paradise.
• It contains a divine blessing.
• Its seeds can mean prosperity and fertility.
• It can be known as the greatest source of wealth..
• The way to create the pomegranate sauce starts with
• Slicing the pomegranate in half
• extracting the juice.
• Cooking the pomegranate juice
• Stirring the juice .
• Using it quickly or storing it away.
• Also used for a remedy
• It could help cleanse the heart and soul from the negativity.
• Promotes mental focus and clarity
• It supports more blood flow and oxygen and nutrient supply to the brain
• Known also as the fruit of jannah paradise.
• The text relates Pomegranates to Hannibal when people absorb from one another
• Pomegranates is a hot topic with a group of youth who understand the discourse about beauty.
• The way men or women peel this fruit is seen as having a different symbolism, where men are brutish and women are gentle.

The Pomegranate Theory

Lastly, the theory is that a relationship is put into a task where one has peel apart the pomegranate for you.

• This helps judge communication for someone and test their love
• The act has gone on to measure intimacy
• Many just don't love the seeds and feel this wouldn't matter to them,
• Someone also has to consider how it relates to the symbolism of love and death.

Explore the multifaceted nature of pomegranates, intertwining botany, history, and symbolism. From its etymological connection to explosive seed dispersal to its place in the Doctrine of Signatures. Discover how the fruit is viewed as a symbol of life, death, and rebirth.