It is the lowly tomato - sweet summer fruit that always makes us smile.
Except that it apparently has a superpower.
Except that it apparently has a superpower.
(No, it's not voodoo.)
Once upon a time, there was a belief that a tomato, if left on the mantel piece, was said to ward off evil spirits in the home. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm imagining a tomato rotting in the heat of the living room and melting all over the fireplace. Ick.
But that wasn't the only problem - back in the day, tomatoes weren't all that easy to come by, and when you did get your hands on one, you probably ate it immediately. So all in all...that was a really stupid superstition.
To combat the problem of tomatoes bearing heat bubbles and the teeth marks of hungry children, people started making their tomatoes out of paper and fabric. That was a pretty good idea, and then somewhere along the line they decided that sticking their pins into the tomatoes was a good way to keep from stepping on them. (Or maybe the pins were to keep the children from eating them anyway. Kids aren't choosy - they'll eat anything).
There doesn't seem to be much detail about who came up with that idea originally, but it makes sense. If an evil spirit comes to your house, just stab him with your pins. Apparently they hate that.
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