Apples of Utopia, De Buitenplaats, Eelde, The Netherlands
Wandering through the exquisite gardens of De Buitenplaats at Eelde in the north of the Netherlands without knowing the precise names of many of this idyllic spot's natural things, I spotted these beautiful apples. 'De Buitenplaats' is a veritable garden of Eden, and in fact the name can mean as much: an out-of-the-way place, a remote place, but also 'outside' of place, 'without' place', and thus even Utopia. This Eelden Eden, then, put my mind back to that primeval Garden in Genesis.
And I remembered that in the Biblical story Eve and Adam didn't share an apple: the text mentions a fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, not stipulating an apple. In fact, in the Jewish and Greek traditions, other fruits - notably figs - are identified as Adam and Eve's primal meal. Appropriately, it was thought, they used fig leaves to cover their nakedness after the Fall. Occasionally Christian painters depict figs in this context.
The Latin, Catholic and thus Western European tradition, though, thinks 'Of that Forbidd'n Tree, whose mortal tast / brought Death into the World, and all our woe, / with loss of Eden...' (John Milton) as an Appletree. This has to do with the Latin word for apple: malus, and the Latin for evil: malum. Combined with an interpretation of a text from the Song of Songs this leads to the 'Apple-tradition' of the West.
Whatever the case, the Garden on the day of my ambling felt Paradisiacal; and having learned the First Parents' lesson, I did not sin by picking such a Luscious Fruit, apple or not.
Apples of Utopia, De Buitenplaats, Eelde, The Netherlands
Wandering through the exquisite gardens of De Buitenplaats at Eelde in the north of the Netherlands without knowing the precise names of many of this idyllic spot's natural things, I spotted these beautiful apples. 'De Buitenplaats' is a veritable garden of Eden, and in fact the name can mean as much: an out-of-the-way place, a remote place, but also 'outside' of place, 'without' place', and thus even Utopia. This Eelden Eden, then, put my mind back to that primeval Garden in Genesis.
And I remembered that in the Biblical story Eve and Adam didn't share an apple: the text mentions a fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, not stipulating an apple. In fact, in the Jewish and Greek traditions, other fruits - notably figs - are identified as Adam and Eve's primal meal. Appropriately, it was thought, they used fig leaves to cover their nakedness after the Fall. Occasionally Christian painters depict figs in this context.
The Latin, Catholic and thus Western European tradition, though, thinks 'Of that Forbidd'n Tree, whose mortal tast / brought Death into the World, and all our woe, / with loss of Eden...' (John Milton) as an Appletree. This has to do with the Latin word for apple: malus, and the Latin for evil: malum. Combined with an interpretation of a text from the Song of Songs this leads to the 'Apple-tradition' of the West.
Whatever the case, the Garden on the day of my ambling felt Paradisiacal; and having learned the First Parents' lesson, I did not sin by picking such a Luscious Fruit, apple or not.