I probably should be posting this around Christmas, but oh well, I'm scared that I'm going to forget I ever received apples on Christmas. And some people might think "what's so special about apples anyway?" "Why apples on Christmas?"
Well, the Chinese don't traditionally celebrate Christmas, but it is now such a commercially successful Western event that the locals are creating their own Christmas traditions.
So while I was studying in China, Christmas came around and I started receiving apples from my Chinese friends. They would include a "merry Christmas" card along with the apples. Another friend of mine even got a whole box of apples, which she couldn't finish.
I don't know if other countries have this tradition of giving out apples on Christmas.... I went to the Jimei church one day and asked the expats there whether or not their culture also has giving apples as a Christmas present. All of them said "no."
So then I asked my Chinese friend, why apples? Why not a banana? Or an orange? Or a Chinese fruit, like the pipa?
He explained that the Chinese for apple is "pingguo" (苹果). The Chinese word for peaceful is "heping" (和平).
As you can see, both words have the "ping" syllable. The "ping" in both words also use the second tone. And the Chinese character for pingguo (apple) has the character for "ping" in it.
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| heping |
My friend then continued to say that because Christmas has a lot to do with peace and calm, then the symbolic representation of that in China is an apple.
I don't quite know how true this is. Haven't really checked out websites on this topic, but I believed my friend. And in my opinion, it is a valid explanation for why in China apples are given as gifts on Christmas.
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