The Norse mythology of apple

In Norse mythology, the goddess Iðunn Snorra described in the prose Edda (Snorri Sturluson works of the 13th century) as a provider of apples that give eternal youth to the gods. British Scholars, H. R. Ellis Davidson, associate apples to religious practices in Germanic paganism that gave birth to the Nordic religion. He pointed out that the baskets containing apples were found in the Oseberg ship burial site in Norway, and apples and seeds (Iðunn told Skáldskaparmál turn into seeds) were found in the old cemetery and the Germanic diInggris continental Europe, may carry a symbolic meaning, and seeds still an important symbol of fertility in southwest England.

Davidson attention to the relationship between the apple and the Vanir, the tribe of gods associated with fertility in Norse mythology, citing the example kisahSkírnir (messenger Freyr, the god of the major Vanir) using seeds eleven "golden apples" to lure Gerðr, as written in the stanza 19 and 20 Skírnismál. Davidson also noticed another connection between fertility and apples in Norse mythology in chapter 2 Völsunga saga, when the goddess Frigg sends King Reriryang apples to pray for the children to Odin. Envoy Frigg (in the form of a crow) apple dropping on his lap as he sat on the mound. [11] After eating the apple, empress Rerir pregnant for six years, and gave birth to a boy named Völsung. 

Furthermore, Davidson pointed to the phrase "Apples of Hel" used in the poetry of the 11th century skald made Thorbiorn Brúnarson. He stated that the phrase may be a sign that Apple is suspected as the food of the dead by the skald. Moreover, Davidson notes that Nehalennia Germanic goddess sometimes depicted with apples and parallels exist in early Irish stories. He asserts that while cultivation of the apple in Northern Europe has been around since the Roman Empire and came to Europe from the Near East, varieties of apples are grown in Northern Europe are small and bitter. Davidson concludes that in the figure Iðunn, "we must have a vague shadow of the ancient symbols: the patron goddess of the life-giving fruit of the other world".