Why give apples on Christmas Eve?
As Christmas Eve approaches, the custom of “giving apples on Christmas Eve” has once again become a hot topic. This phenomenon has become particularly popular among young people in China in recent years, but its origins and implications are little known. This article will combine the hot discussions on the Internet in the past 10 days to present the background, popular reasons and cultural significance of this custom in the form of structured data.
1. Popularity data of related topics on the entire network in the past 10 days
| Platform | Related topics | Number of discussions (10,000) | Hot search highest ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| #The origin of giving apples on Christmas Eve# | 12.8 | No. 7 | |
| Douyin | "Ping'an Guo" packaging tutorial | 9.2 | No. 3 on the life list |
| little red book | Christmas Apple Gift DIY | 5.6 | 1st place in handmade category |
| Zhihu | Is giving apples to foreigners on Christmas Eve? | 3.4 | Cultural discussion hot topics |
2. Three mainstream theories about the origin of customs
According to the hot discussion on the Internet, there are three main explanations for the origin of giving apples on Christmas Eve:
| serial number | origin theory | Support ratio | Main basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinese homophony theory | 68% | "Apple" is homophonic to "flat", which means peace. |
| 2 | business marketing theory | 22% | Fruit vendor's holiday promotion in the 1990s |
| 3 | Combining Chinese and Western Theory | 10% | The integration of Christian tradition and Chinese folk customs |
3. Five reasons why contemporary young people choose to give apples as gifts
According to social media survey data, modern people continue this custom mainly for the following motivations:
| Reason type | Proportion | Typical representative comments |
|---|---|---|
| Ritual needs | 35% | “The beautifully packaged Pingan fruit is very festive” |
| emotional expression | 28% | “It’s more thoughtful than giving out red envelopes directly” |
| Herd mentality | 20% | “Everyone is posting about it in their circle of friends. If you don’t give it as a gift, it would look out of date.” |
| cultural identity | 12% | "This is the Chinese way of celebrating Christmas" |
| economic considerations | 5% | “Much cheaper than buying Christmas gifts” |
4. Controversy and Reflection
Some controversial views have also appeared in recent online discussions:
1.Cultural appropriation controversy:Some netizens believe that this is an over-localization of Western festivals, and 37% of the answers to related topics on Zhihu were critical.
2.Excessive packaging problem:Environmentalists pointed out that during Christmas Eve in 2022, 8 tons of holiday wrapping paper were recycled in one city, and related discussions increased by 120% this year.
3.Criticism of commercialization:The phenomenon of the price of ordinary apples soaring 5-10 times after being packaged has triggered heated discussions. A Weibo survey showed that 82% of the respondents believed that "the price is artificially high."
5. Forecast of future trends
Based on expert opinions and online public opinion, the custom of giving apples on Christmas Eve may develop in the following directions:
| trend dimension | Specific performance | probability assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Form innovation | Cross-border combinations such as Apple + digital collections | High (75%) |
| cultural return | Emphasize the connotation of traditional Chinese peace culture | Medium(60%) |
| Environmental transformation | Popularity of degradable packaging materials | Low(40%) |
Judging from the recent popularity on the Internet, this seemingly simple festival custom actually reflects the contemporary Chinese youth group's creative transformation of traditional culture, their new need for a sense of festival rituals, and their cultural confidence in the context of globalization. Regardless of its origin, this cultural practice that retains the core of the festival while incorporating local characteristics may be a vivid embodiment of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
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