Mulberry Fruit Symbolism Facts & Literature: Astrology, Omens, Dreams, and Legends
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Mulberry Fruit Symbolism & Meaning
The mulberry fruit is closely linked to abundance and generosity because of the abundance of fruits a single tree can provide throughout the world.
These versatile fruits are also symbols of wisdom due to the buds of the fruit blooming when the frost is no longer present at the end of winter.
More symbolic meanings of the mulberry are growth, patience, and resilience because of its ability to grow remarkably fast into huge trees, however, it would take at least ten years to bear fruit. Once the mulberry hits this milestone, it will continually bring big amounts of bounty for its carers.
Mulberries are also given the symbol of beauty for they inspired artists in their work for centuries to create beautiful masterpieces.
Health, wellness, and vitality are also closely connected to the mulberry because of its many nutritional and health benefits, and as an ingredient in traditional remedies.
The mulberry trees were often meeting places of community gatherings, thus taking on the association of community identity, heritage, and belonging.
Mulberries are often associated with death because their wood is traditionally used to make coffins, carriers of death.
Mulberry, the British luxury bag brand uses a mulberry tree as their emblem.
The UK-based Mulberry Studius designs and produces personalized gift products. They used a mulberry tree in bloom with teddy bears with their hands linked as they encircled the tree for their icon.
The Mulberry Centre is a support provider for those affected by cancer, based in the United Kingdom. Their icon is a purple mulberry leaf.
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Mulberry Fruit Positive & Negative Symbolism
The mulberry fruit is steeped with positive symbolism, associated with abundance, growth, patience, wisdom, community, belonging, and health. On the other hand, its one negative symbolism is death, due to the tree being traditionally used to build coffins.
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Mulberry Fruit Origin
There are many species of mulberries with three main species, differentiated by their color, native to regions of the world. White mulberries originated in China, red mulberries originated in North America, and black mulberries originated in Western Asia.
The earliest fossils of mulberries were discovered in the Netherlands dating to the Pliocene some 5.333 million years to 2.58 million years ago.
Through migration, trade, or travel, these mulberry species reached different regions on Earth, eventually reaching the Middle East, Europe, and India.
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Mulberry Fruit Cultural Symbolism
In many cultures around the world, the mulberry fruit holds a significant place in cuisine in the form of pies, jams, tarts, cordials, sherbets, wine, and herbal teas.
Since ancient times, the white mulberry leaves have been vital in the creation of silk as they were fed to silkworms. These trees were significantly cultivated in China, ancient Rome, Greece, 16th-century Britain, and even colonial Virginia.
In Ancient Rome, mulberries were considered medicinal fruits because of their health benefits, as well as the different parts of their trees.
In Ancient Rome and Greece, because mulberries are symbols of wisdom, they are used to honor Athena or Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.
During the Tudor period in Britain, mulberries had become symbols of luxury. They are seen as novelty treats to be enjoyed at lavish feasts during banquets at court where aristocrats show off their wealth.
In German folklore, mulberries are viewed to be symbols of evil because it is believed that the devil used its roots to shine his shoes, giving it its peculiar color.
Christians closely associate mulberry trees with death and evil because they traditionally use their wood for coffins.
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Mulberry Fruit in Art and Literature
The most prominent artwork of mulberries is Vincent van Gogh’s oil painting titled Mulberry Tree completed in 1889.
William Henry Hunt, the English watercolorist, featured the fruit in his realistic still life watercolor artwork titled Plum and Mulberries circa 1860.
Mulberries were also featured in historical botanical illustrations like Otto Wilhelm Thome’s Leaves and Fruits of the Black Mulberry in 1885, and Jacques Le Moyne Morgues’s Botanical Study of Mulberry during his trip to the New World.
In literature, the poem titled Mulberry by American award-winning poet Craig Arnold was published in Poetry Magazine’s October 2013 issue.
Children’s book author, Allison Rushby, published The Mulberry Tree in 2020 about a haunted-looking old mulberry tree.
In East Asian literature, the phrase “mulberry fields” is an idiom about changes and the act of changing, often used as early as the Tang dynasty as a metonym for land that will be covered in the sea.
In classic literature, the mulberry are favorite imagery used by authors in their work including the Roman Horace in his Satire, William Cowper in his long poem The Task, and Shakespeare in his Midsummer’s Night Dream, likening the fragility of the fruit to one of his characters.
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Mulberry Favorite Fruit: Traits and Personality
If the mulberry is your favorite fruit, this could indicate that your personality can be described as passionate, honest, wise, cautious, and patient. You are the mother hen of the group who is always ready to give sage advise.
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Mulberry Fruit in Astrology or Zodiac
Aries can be very passionate but aggressive. Their confidence, energy, and optimism will help them reach their goals, but their singlemindedness could sometimes lead them astray. Mulberries will bring patience and wisdom to help Aries achieve a healthy focus on their goals.
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Mulberry Fruit in Dreams
Dream interpretations of mulberries include achieving abundant blessings in life after a long wait. Mulberries in dreams could also indicate the dreamer is in fine health and is ready to face the battles in life.
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Mulberry Fruit Omens and Superstitions
Japanese superstition encourages people to say the phrase “kuwabara kuwabara” translated means “mulberry fields, mulberry fields” to ward off lightning. This stemmed from an old Chinese belief brought to Japan that says mulberry trees are never struck by lightning.
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Mulberry Fruit Legends, Mythology, and Folklore
Ovid wrote in his Metamorphoses a retelling of Thisbe and Pyramus, a Babylonian myth of two tragic lovers. Through a series of misunderstandings, Thisbe and Pyramus committed suicide under a mulberry tree. To honor the lovers, the gods changed the white mulberries to the color of their blood.
