An apple sliced at its equator will reveal a pentacle of pips - I could do a little promotion here, but in any case see THIS for a practical demonstration at least! There are two immediate significances here. Firstly, according to local lore current in my youth, if one split an apple thus and carved the names of two you would have fall in love (one upon each half) and have the apple bound and buried with charm, then love would surely flourish. Secondly, an apple thus split and fixed to a thorn in a hawthorn bush (as in our wee film) serves to ward off malign influences, or else attract good, in the form of birds perhaps, however so devined or else significant in themselves. In the film Rapunzel intones verses about a dying Robin, though I doubt any robin would eat anything whilst still in the tree.

More well known are various Hallowe'en customs featuring apples - dookin, bobbing, swinging etc. - supposed to derive from Samhain divination ceremonies, though I doubt it. I'm always wondering how in Christian countries the apple isn't regarded with wider suspicion given that it was (symbolic at least of) the instrument Satan used in his tempotation of Eve. I suspect that, deep down, we're rather glad of this Knowledge anyway, and gladly sacrificed the Innocence of Eden for the Wonders of the Wilderness beyond God's divine Ha-Ha, which is but one of the reasons why I like to see Churches decorated with apples for the Harvest Festival.

My personal preference is to eat apples with a knife (my faithful Opinel) leaving only the stork; and whilst generally I look forward to the English varieties I've been a bit remiss so far this year - perhaps this thread will spur me on!