Sailor’s light and Pineapples
What women did to ensure that their husbands returned home safely gave rise to a number of customs, such as the Widow Walk. Another custom in northern Germany (may also apply elsewhere, but I could only find it for this region) was to put a so-called sailor’s light in the window. This lantern was placed in the window every night that the husband was at sea so that he could find his way home again. As long as the candle burned, he was alive, but if it simply went out, it was believed that the sea had taken him. Only when he was home again was the lantern taken out of the window. Even today there is still the need to put a lantern in the window as a light of hope and that a distant person will find their way home again.
But when he was home, the custom developed in England in the course of the 19th century to place a pineapple on the entrance gate or door to alert visitors to the captain’s return. Thus, the pineapple became a symbol of hospitality, a tradition that continues to this day.