Q for Quert (Apple) - September 2nd - September 29th
“Fruit of love - 10th month of the Celtic Tree Calendar (Ref)”
Star: Venus: Gemstone: emerald,; Gender: female; Patrons: Gaia, Aphrodite, Venus, Hera, Pomona, Nemesis, Astarte, Ishtar, Ceridwen, Olwen, Gwen, Arwen, Shekhinah, Freyja, Iðunn; Symbols: faith + gratitude, love + trust, tolerance + Abundance, self-respect, the work of fate.
The original species of apple is the crab apple. The crab apple belongs to the rose family and has short, flower-bearing young branches with thorns. The fruits are firm, round, acidic and vary in colour from yellow to crimson. September is the apple month, when the flowers bloom in late spring, the sweet fragrance is released and the fruit ripens.
Hazel, oak and apple are all legendary magical fruits, and it is believed that the three fruits together will fulfil all the needs of life. Birch, alder, willow, oak, holly, hazel and apple are designated as sacred trees in ancient Irish law. Of these, the apple and hazel were especially considered sacred trees, so much so that anyone who deliberately cut them down was punished with death.
In classical Western mythology, the 'Paradise Island', a paradise of fruit trees, was thought to contain the Tree of Wisdom, which bore three sacred apples. It is important to remember here that the apple, the fruit of love, was the food of the Celtic gods and they ate apples.
The apple tree, a favourite parasite of mistletoe, was regarded as sacred, especially by druids (Ref2). According to Druidic teachings, holy drops from heaven spilled over into the cauldron of Ceridwen, and the three drops that splashed out of the cauldron became the source of wisdom for the three apples that grow on the Tree of Wisdom. These three drops symbolise the three pillars of the Tree of Life in the Hebrew mystical philosophy of Kabbalah. These three pillars represent the masculine and feminine principles respectively, with the central pillar representing the union of the two. These also coincide with the most sacred symbol of the Druids, the 'three rays', each representing the power of vision, the power to manipulate letters and symbols, and the power to understand them. These strange three drops can be seen as a spiritual energy that gives life energy to all living things.
Legend has it that the Otherworld is a magical land of thickly growing apple trees, and that visitors from the Otherworld often come to this world carrying apple branches. Wearing a piece of apple wood is said to bring about a loved one and a long life, and is an essential part of good luck charms and spells. Apple trees were often planted in gardens in the British Isles, as they were believed to protect the home and bring love to it.
Japanese lyrics used are at the very end. Feel free to let me know about any mistakes or ask any questions about the translation
English
Mistaken for a doll, those blue eyes well up with tears [1]
At the curtain call of the romantic play woven together with a foreigner[2]
Wondering about within a fantasy, I trod the stone walkways of the city
Dripping down like wax as it melts through the day
The night’s unrequited that yearns for the morning light[3]
Was enveloped
Even if it was the same as the wind that only blows through
Oh! capital city of flowers, this love too, bloomed on roadside
If it amounts to nothing more than a single poem then
Engrave that dazzling splendor onto each other’s chests
That beloved
Shadow puppet’s
Living presence, turn it into a fairytale
Even if you cling onto an nonsensical prayer
Those hopeless feelings won’t ever disappear will they?
Then shall we leave proof of our destined meeting here?
Let me change into the costume procured by both chance and fate
Rather than unforgivable actions
Suffering, or grieving
Shall we dance until dawn breaks?
I reach out my hand out to you
While you gaze back at me
Is it worth agonizing about the destination of unfulfilled dreams
Even when you know there is nothing that lasts forever
Let us retain this radiance for eternity, in this world
Longing for
And drawn to each other
Those souls, make them into a fairytale
Even if old
And covered in dust
Once you open the cover
Everything will end up overflowing
The filled away time
Still carries the same old color as it ever did
And paints even the future in its hue
Oh! Capital city of flowers
This love
Drapes your town
Even these flowing days, as they bloom and wilt away
Play this melody, forevermore, into each other’s chests
The beloved
Shadow puppet’s
Living presence, so it continues to dance
Offer it a song of love, offer it a song of love
1. The blue that it uses is 碧, which references a more greenish/greyish blue than would be expected from the use of the usual kanji used to refer to the color blue (青)
2. As well as meaning foreigner, 異邦人 is also the title given in Japanese to Camus’ novel The Outsider
3. 酬い can refer to a reward. Given the context of the phrase, I decided to translate it as unrequited, as it is a heart without reward. This word can also be used to refer to karmic debt, which means another literal translation for 酬いの無き心 could be “a heart free of karmic debt/bad karma” (or a “pure” heart)
[note I might TL this later, or someone else can, a lot of formal language is used so I'm not sure yet.
Anyway context: Okasaki Miho, Mahiru's actress, couldn't make it to the MILGRAM Live shows so she made a pre-recorded video apologising and answering some questions that played before both shows]
一番初めのゲーム収録でこのタイトルと内容を知ったときに、バトルをするための自分の化身をペルソナと呼ぶなんて、何でシャ レてるんだと思ったものでした。人が対外的に自分を表すためにかぶる仮面。それが敵、自分に向かってくるモノと戦うための武器になる。これは日常のコミュニケーションそのものに見えます。だから、そういうペルソナを本来の意味を考えると、理だけが一つのペルソナの進化という形ではなく、初めから複数のベルソナを使い分けられるというところにも自分なりに納得のいく理屈をつけることができそうです。心の中が空っぽの理には端から対外的にどう見られたいという願望がありません。そんなことは彼にとってはそれこそ「どうでもいい」ことであって、どう見られても構わないからこそ、かぶる仮面を一つに限定する理由がないのです。どうでしょう。自分としてはこの理由付けの仕方、なかなか気に入っています。理が空の器であったと捉えることで、映画の登場人物として物語を展開させていく大きな必然性を持たせることにもなるのです。結城 理の物語はゲームの枠にとどまらず、映画化という展開にも充分耐えうるポテンシャルを持っていた、だから映画化されるのは必然だったというのはちょっと暴走し過ぎでしょうか。暴走ついでに、第4章『Winter of Rebirth』のクライマックスシーン。これまでの経験を経て、一度無くした人間性を取り戻し、中身を満たすことができた理は、かつて母親が自分にしてくれたように、仲間を生かすために自分の命を投げ出すという境地にまで達します。そこには第1章『Spring of Birth』の頃の己の死の恐怖に対するどうでもよさから来る蛮勇はありません。自分たちが存在した証を守り残すという全員の目標を果たすために、理は自分を満たしてくれた、自分を再構成するためのエレメンツをくれた仲間と彼らが生きていく世界を、今度は自分が数おうとしました。そしてそれが自己犠牲的発想に基づく行動だったのは皆さんも感じられた通りです。そのために数多くのペルソナという仮面をかぶることができる理が、ことごとくそのペルソナを打ち砕かれ、最後はその仮面をかぶらずに先へ進む。これはなかなか象徴的なシーンだとは思いませんか。