11 spiritual meanings of pineapple

Pineapples are irresistibly delicious and most people associate them with sun and sand, piña coladas, Hawaiian pizzas and everything else tropical and exotic.

They also have a surprising history, and while they may not have deep spiritual meaning, they have represented many things to different people over the centuries.

For anyone wanting to learn more, in this post we discuss pineapple symbolism – and one of the meanings we mention is something you’d probably never guess!

The history of the pineapple

The pineapple is a familiar and almost banal fruit to us today. We don’t think twice about seeing them on display in a grocery store and are used to putting them in our shopping carts all year round. But it wasn’t always like that.

Pineapples have a more interesting history than you can imagine and they were once highly sought after in certain parts of the world and out of reach for all but the super rich.

For a long time it was certainly not just a “normal” fruit that everyone could eat. So before we get into the symbolism, let’s take a look at the history behind this succulent and delicious treat.

Where do pineapples come from?

Pineapples are believed to have originated in the Paraná River area of ​​present-day Brazil and Paraguay.

The pineapple was probably invented sometime before 1200 BC. domesticated and cultivation spread throughout tropical South and Central America.

The first European to see a pineapple was Columbus – reportedly on November 4, 1493 – on the island of what is now Guadeloupe.

One of the first peoples to grow pineapples were the Tupi-Guarani, who lived in what is now the state of Sao Paulo.

When a French priest named Jean de Léry visited the area some 75 years after Columbus’ voyages, he reported that the pineapple seemed to have symbolic value to the people there, as opposed to other objects that were only used for food.

Introduction in Europe

When Columbus sailed back to Spain, he took some pineapples with him. However, due to the long journey back to Europe, most of them broke, and only one survived.

He gave this to the Spanish King Ferdinand, and the whole court was amazed at this wonderful, exotic fruit from distant lands. This sparked a craze for pineapples in Europe, and the huge demand meant they fetched astronomical prices.

This was because it was both prohibitively expensive and extremely difficult to bring back from America – but at the same time, with the technology of the time, it was next to impossible to grow in Europe.

Learn how to grow them

In 1658, the first pineapple in Europe was successfully grown near Leiden in the Netherlands by a man named Pieter de la Court, using a new greenhouse technology that he was developing. The first pineapple in England was then grown in 1719 – and the first in France in 1730.

Pineapples were even successfully grown on the estates of Catherine the Great of Russia from 1796 onwards.

The problem was that growing pineapples in temperate European countries required the use of greenhouses – pineapple plants cannot tolerate temperatures below about 18°C ​​(64.5°F).

This means that growing in Europe costs almost as much as importing from the New World.

pineapples in other parts of the world

However, other parts of the world were better suited to growing pineapples, and plantations were established in India by the Portuguese and in the Philippines by the Spanish.

The Spaniards also attempted to grow pineapples in Hawaii from the early 1700s, but commercial cultivation there did not begin until 1886.

At that time, pineapples were made into jams and marmalades because they were easier to transport – and later, when technology permitted, they were also canned for export.

Hawaii dominated the pineapple trade until the 1960s, after which production declined and it is no longer a major growing area.

Today, the Philippines is the largest pineapple grower in the world, followed by Costa Rica, Brazil, Indonesia and China.

The symbolism of the pineapple

With such an interesting history, it’s no wonder that the pineapple has symbolized different things to different people at different times over the centuries, so let’s take a closer look.

1. Luxury and Wealth

When the first pineapples came to Europe – and when a handful were grown there at great cost too – they were considered the ultimate luxury commodity, and the wealthiest members of society used them to show off their wealth, power and connections.

Pineapples were so valuable that they were not used as food, but rather served as decorative items. A pineapple was used over and over again until it started to go bad, and the sole purpose was to impress guests with the lavishness and opulence of the presentation.

For those who couldn’t afford to buy pineapples for their events, it was even possible to rent one for the day to save face. This only goes to show the extent to which pineapples symbolized wealth and power in the years following their arrival in Europe.

Later, as technology became available, people began cultivating their own. However, they required care all year round and were very labor-intensive to grow, so they were hardly cheaper than importing them.

This meant that the resources to grow pineapples in Europe were as ostentatious a sign of wealth as the ability to import them.

Perhaps the best example of this was a greenhouse called the Dunmore Pineapple, built in 1761 by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore.

The greenhouse’s most striking feature is a 14m (45ft) high stone dome in the shape of a giant pineapple, a building clearly designed to showcase the extravagance of growing this tropical fruit in Scotland.

2. “The Best”

As pineapples became symbols of wealth and decadence, they were also seen as representing the “best,” and certain expressions related to pineapples became common in the language of the time.

For example, in the late 1700s, people commonly said something was “a pineapple of the finest flavor” to describe something of the highest quality.

In the play of 1775 The rivals by Sheridan, one character also describes another, saying, “He’s the true pineapple of civility.”

3. Exotic, distant lands and colonial conquest

Today it is hard to imagine what it must have been like to see such a rare and unusual fruit for the first time, but it is easy to imagine how it would have symbolized all that was exotic and unknown in the distant lands that were discovered.

When pineapples were brought back to places like England, France or Spain, they would also have represented the successful colonial conquest of new lands.

Although the colonial era is no longer viewed in a positive light, back then the symbols of overseas conquests were sources of great pride, and pineapples symbolized power and success in colonial endeavors.

4. Welcome and hospitality

When Europeans first arrived in America, they reportedly saw some of the locals hanging pineapples outside their homes, ostensibly as a sign of welcome.

The idea was that the pineapple would let guests know they were welcome to visit and the pineapple would leave a pleasant smell in the air for those passing by.

It is possible that these stories are apocryphal, or perhaps the European explorers and colonists misunderstood why pineapples were placed in front of people’s homes.

However, as we have seen, when the pineapple was brought back to Europe, it was used by the hosts to show their wealth – and at the same time it became a symbol of hospitality.

For if the host was willing to lavish such an expensive fruit on his guests, then surely that was the sign of a generous welcome, and so, in addition to the rather blatant display of one’s wealth, the pineapple also came to be associated with generosity and kindness.

According to another story, sailors—or perhaps just the captains—returning from voyages to distant lands would hang pineapples on their doors, much like the South American natives are said to have done.

The idea is that this was a way of letting the neighbors know that the adventurer had returned safely and that they were welcome to visit him and hear tales of the seafarer’s exploits abroad.

5. License Fees

Since pineapples were so expensive, it’s no wonder they were quickly associated with royalty – as kings, queens and princes were among the only people who could afford to buy them.

In fact, King Charles II of England even commissioned a portrait of himself being presented with a pineapple, so precious and prestigious were these fruits – amusing as it may seem to us now!

There is another reason pineapples have been associated with royalty and that is their shape – the way they grow makes them almost look like they are wearing a crown which is one of the reasons why why it was once known as the “King of Fruits”.

The English explorer and statesman Walter Raleigh, on the other hand, called the pineapple the “princess of fruits”. This was undoubtedly an attempt to win the favor of his patron, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

6. Beauty

Philosophers have debated the concept of beauty for thousands of years, but many, including Aristotle, believed that attractiveness stemmed from order and symmetry. Later, St. Augustine also asserted that beauty comes from geometric form and balance.

In any case, pineapples exhibit many of these characteristics, with a pleasing symmetrical shape and the lines of “eyes” running around the skin. The leaves on top even follow the Fibonacci sequence, so pineapples are mathematically perfect too.

7. Masculinity

It was suggested to the tribes in the areas where pineapples were first grown that this fruit symbolized masculinity and masculinity.

This was because it took great strength to pull the fruit out of the plant, and it also required strength and determination to break through the tough skin to reach the fruit inside.

8th war

According to the Aztecs, the pineapple was also a symbol of war, as the Aztec god of war Vitzliputzli was sometimes depicted holding a pineapple.

9. The United States

Early in US history, pioneer planters attempted to grow pineapples on their lands, and to them this represented…