Plum Fruit Symbolism Facts & Literature: Astrology, Omens, Dreams, and Legends
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Plum Fruit Symbolism & Meaning
For centuries, different cultures and civilizations have steeped the plum with symbolic meaning. The palm tree, its blossoms, and its fruit have been associated with spring and winter.
The plum is revered for its ability to produce fruits and bloom in colder conditions, making it a symbol of hope, resilience, perseverance, and endurance.
The plum is also linked to purity and beauty amidst challenging circumstances. This also made the plum a symbol of patience and calmness.
The timing of the plum’s blooms and harvest also gave it a connection to transition, warmth, and a promise of future fruitfulness after hardship.
The Custom Plum Company is based in South Africa with the mission to innovate the stone fruit industry in South Africa through genetic breeding. Their icon are three transparent circles on top of one another, resembling a plum.
Plum Goodness is an Indian vegan beauty brand delivering cruelty-free beauty products to their customers. Their emblem is a purple plum shaped silhouette.
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Plum Fruit Positive & Negative Symbolism
The plum is associated with many positive symbolism as a fruit that ripens in spring. It symbolizes warmth, beauty, perseverance, endurance, resilience, transition, and more.
On the other hand, green unripe plum holds the negative symbolism of sickness and immaturity. Plum can also used to describe a person in a negative light.
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Plum Fruit Origin
The plum’s origin is discovered to be in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus mountains, and China.
Archeological evidence found in Neolithic sites suggests that plums, along with olives, grapes, and figs, could be the first fruits cultivated by man.
In antiquity, plums are introduced to nearby regions through trade and by travelers. The first plums brought to Britain were originally from Iran.
Further evidence of domestication in other parts of Europe was the 12th-century text, Book on Agriculture by Ibn al’Awwam, stating that plums are being cultivated in Andalusia, Spain.
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Plum Fruit Cultural Symbolism
The plum fruit, especially its blossoms, has been graced with symbolism in the Chinese cultures since ancient times. The plum is symbolizes winter in Confucius philosophy as part of the “Four Novel Ones” along with bamboo, orchid, and chrysanthemum.
Similarly in Japan, the plum is part of the “Three Friends of Winter” along with bamboo and pine because of their ability to bloom and blossom during the cold winter months, becoming symbols of life and good fortune.
The Japanese also has a practice of depicting the Japanese flag by placing a plum at the center of a bowl of rice. They also see plum trees as symbol of protection against evil, planting plums in gardens, especially at the northeastern side–the direction they believed evil comes from.
The Greeks and Romans believed in the medicinal properties of the plum, prescribing prunes as medicines since ancient times.
In the Middle East and the Mediterraneans, plums are also popular for their medicinal and culinary uses.
In Mexico, plums are symbols of strength because of their ability to survive in arid landscapes. They also represent resillence and maintaining beauty during tough conditions.
Likewise in America, plums are seen as symbols of resilience, endurance, and persevering through adversity.
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Plum Fruit in Art and Literature
Salavador Dali, the renowned Spanish surrealist artist, painted a series of lithographs commissioned in 1846 known as the Fruit Series. One of his lithographs is the Running Plum Man.
Henri Fantin-Latour, the French artist renowned for his still-life flora paintings and group portraits has several artworks with the plum as a subject. These still-life paintings includes Plums and Peaches in 1894, Peaches and a Plum in 1897, and Two Peaches and Two Plums in 1899.
Ilya Mashkov was a prominent Russian painter with his impressionist and fauvism style of work. His colorful works featuring plums include Still Blue plums in 1910 and Still life with wreaths, apples, and plums from 1912 to 1914.
Anne Vallayer-Coster was a majoy 18th century painter in France. Celebrated for her still-life florals and portraits, even the Queen Marie Antoinette took an interest in her paintings. Vallayer-Coster included many plums in her still-life paintings including in Still Life with Peaches and Plums in a Basket, and a Ham from 1763 to 1765, Basket of Plums in 1769, and A Vase of Flowers and Two Plums on a Marble Tabletop in 1781.
Herbert La Thangue, the English rural painter known for his realist style created the painting Gathering Plums in 1901 depicting plums being harvested by the baskets.
In written works, the Welsh poet and playwright included her poem Plums in her published poetry book titled “Selected Poems” in 1985.
The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P’ing Mei: Vol. One: The Gathering, is a 16th-century classic Chinese novel by an anonymous author, depicting the domestic life of the corrupt merchant, Hsi-men Ch’ing, as he lives with six wives and concubines.
The Plum Trees by Victoria Shorr is a 2021 historical fiction novel following Consie as she sets to discover the fate of her great-uncle Hermann and his family after they were sent to Auschwitz.
The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller is a prominent fiction novel first published in 1994 using green plums as an allegory for glutonny and brutality.
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Plum Favorite Fruit: Traits and Personality
If plum is your favorite fruit, this could indicate people will often describe you as lively, resilient, and motivated. You are a person that has it all together and can face problems with grace and poise.
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Plum Fruit in Astrology or Zodiac
Amongst all the zodiac sign, the plum has the most affinity with Sagittarius. Sagittarius are honest and direct to the point. They can also face any adversity for the people they love. Plums will help them access their creativity.
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Plum Fruit in Dreams
When dreaming of plums, this could indicate that the dreamer may be chasing perfections in life that are impossible to achieve. Another interpretation can be that plums are signs of new opportunities and beginnings in the horizon are coming
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Plum Fruit Omens and Superstitions
Japanese superstition dedicates not to eating plum or ume with other dishes such as eel or octopus with the belief that it will cause indigestion because of incompatible chemical makeup.
According to superstition in Central Georgia, plums that are pecked by birds become poisonous.
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Plum Fruit Legends, Mythology, and Folklore
In Chinese mythology, plums were eaten by Chinese deities and immortal beings to provide them strength and vitality.