There’s a 2016 segment of “The Rachael Ray Show” that I think about more often than I should during the fall season.
In it, two live audience members are called up to the stage to play a festive game of “Win, Lose, or Fall.” They must bob for apples and drop them into a bucket next to their basin before rummaging through a measly pile of autumn-colored leaves in search of a golden leaf. The person who finds their lucky, shiny leaf first wins a $1,000 Stop & Shop gift card.
What ensues is a heated, albeit brief, apple bobbing competition, in which one of the participants dunks her entire head into the tub of water as she hungrily searches for an apple to bite down on. “Is my mascara running?” she asks Ray after emerging victorious.
I’ve always been fascinated with apple bobbing, mainly because I wasn’t allowed to partake in it growing up. My mother deemed it unsanitary, lamenting that those infamous basins of water were filled with saliva and oral germs galore. Instead, I’d revel in the game from the sidelines, watching my friends waterboard themselves in an attempt to grab as many apples as possible.
Why in the world do we bob for apples during the autumnal months? And when did this wholesome yet wacky activity start? Here’s a quick deep dive into the history behind the longtime tradition — and how it’s remained synonymous with the fall season to this day.
Apple bobbing originated in Europe
The specific origins of apple bobbing — and who first bobbed for apples — remain mysteries to this day. Some reports claim that the earliest iteration of apple bobbing dates back to the 1st century BC, when the Romans invaded Britain and brought with them apple trees. Others say it was much later. Lisa Morton, an author, screenwriter and Halloween historian, told MarthaStewart.com that apple bobbing “has been around since at least the 14th century, when an illuminated manuscript called ‘The Luttrell Psalter’ depicted it in a drawing.”
It initially began as a game of luck and love
Apples in their entirety were known to symbolize romance and, later, spiritualism and courtship, namely during the 19th century. In fact, apple bobbing originally began as a lighthearted game to predict one’s luck with their romantic prospects. “In one popular version of the game, girls would secretly mark apples before tipping them into a barrel of water,” Alison Richards, who co-authored “The New Book of Apples,” wrote for NPR in 2013. “Apples float, and as the girls’ potential sweethearts ducked to catch the fruit with their teeth, future couplings were determined — or foretold.”
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Another variation of the game determined a girl’s romantic destiny based on the number of attempts taken to bite into a singular apple. As explained by Allrecipes’ Maryn Liles, each apple would represent an eligible sweetheart. If the girl was able to chomp down on her desired apple on the first try, that signified that she was destined to be with her sweetheart. If it took her two tries, then she and her sweetheart would court briefly and their love would fade. Three or more tries meant she and her sweetheart weren’t meant to be together — so much so that their relationship was actually doomed.
In other renditions, apple bobbing became a competition for marriage. The first person to successfully grab an apple would get married first. Girls who wanted to double down on their luck believed that putting their bitten apple under their pillow at night would allow them to see their soulmate in their dreams.
It’s also said to be a female fertility ritual
Apple bobbing is also said to have celebrated female fertility. It’s quite fitting considering that apples symbolize Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruitful abundance.
“When you slice open an apple, the seeds and fibrous membrane that make up the core are arranged in a pentagram — a five-pointed star,” wrote Vice back in 2016. “This is the kind of s**t that makes celts and witches cream their gussets, as they believe the pentagram is not just magic but also a fertility symbol.”
Per Robert Chambers’ 1864 miscellany, “Chambers Book of Days,” the game of apple bobbing is described as “hanging up a stick horizontally by a string from the ceiling and putting a candle on the other end, and an apple on the other. The stick being made to twirl rapidly, the merry-makers in succession leap up and snatch at the apple with their teeth, but it very frequently happens that the candle comes round before they are aware, and scorches them in the face, or anoints them with grease.”
It’s a rather macabre “game,” but as Vice noted, tales of apples and women, especially within the religious sphere, haven’t been “entirely uplifting.” Indeed, many of them are quite witch-like — and further underscored this overwhelming sentiment, at the time, that female sexuality, in itself, was utterly terrifying.
The United States revived apple bobbing in the 1800s
Although it declined in popularity in Ireland and England by the 1800s, apple bobbing rose in popularity across the United States, thanks to European and Irish immigrants who introduced the longstanding tradition.
Apple bobbing ultimately became synonymous with Halloween, which shares the same day (Oct. 31) as the Celtic holiday Samhain, a Gaelic festival that marks the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter.
Apple bobbing prevails today
Today, apple bobbing remains a staple tradition at local apple orchards, farms and state fairs across the nation. However, amid the pandemic’s peak, apple bobbing was widely admonished, with several health experts saying the game has always been a bad idea due to food safety concerns and the rapid spread of germs and, yes, infectious diseases. In an attempt to preserve the autumnal spirit, hygienic alternatives to apple bobbing were encouraged, like using alternative items (spoons, chopsticks or a spatula) to grab floating apples or playing apple toss.
