Blueberries: Fruits of the Great Spirit

When Paul wrote about the “fruits of the spirit,” blueberries were not on his list.  “Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” were.  (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)

Perhaps that’s because blueberries aren’t native to the Middle East.  They are, however, native to North America.  Native Americans did take notice of their seemingly spiritual qualities.  They particularly focused upon the five-pointed star on the calyx (blossom end) of each wild berry.  Because these stars seemed so perfectly formed, they were thought to be of divine origin.  According to blueberry.org, Native Americans believed that these “star berries” were sent by the Great Spirit “to relieve the children’s hunger during a famine.”

This is far from the only time that five-pointed stars have been deemed divine.  Wikipedia reports that the pentagram, “the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes,” is spiritually symbolic within a number of faith traditions.  When the pentagram is enclosed within a circle, it is often referred to as a pentacle.

Many Neopagans believe that the five points of a pentagram represent the five elements:  earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.  The outer circle which transforms the pentagram into a pentacle symbolizes “unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, and protection.”  An upward-pointing pentagram can denote the dominance of the spiritual element over the physical ones.  A downward-pointing pentagram can denote just the opposite.

Christianity has also made use of the pentagram.  In medieval times, the pentalpha (so-called because of the five-A, otherwise known as five-alpha, configuration of the pentagram) symbolized Christ’s five wounds.  It also symbolized the five senses, the five virtues of Arthurian knighthood (“noble generosity, fellowship,

purity, courtesy, and compassion”), and Mary’s five major joys (“the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Assumption”).

Blueberry blessings have certainly abounded in North America.  These “star berries” have been yielding nutritional and medicinal gifts for centuries.  Americans can therefore thank these lucky stars for such divine bounty.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry

http://www.blueberry.org/blueberries.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-pointed_star

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pentalpha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assumption_of_Mary

Copyright July 27, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved