MISTLETOE BOUGH

Evening Star, Issue 21291, 21 December 1932, Page 7

MISTLETOE BOUGH

DATES BACK TO DRUIDS Did you know that the mistletoe bough which is. hung in houses in England at Christmas time dates as far back as the Druids? To them it was a sacred plant, _ partly because they attributed medicinal virtues to it, and partly because it grew on the oak, which was the favourite tree of their god, Bel, corresponding to the Phoenician sun-god, Baal. The Druids cut the mistletoe bn stated days with a golden knife, and distributed it among the people, and oii December 21 two white hulls were sacrificed and bonfires lighted. The custom of kissing under the mistletoe is supposed to have originated in the myths of Scandinavia, which tell us that Baldur, the favourite of the gods, was hated by Loki, a wicked spirit, who wished to compass his end,But Baldur was proof against any, weapon that sprang from earth, fire, air, or water, and Loki accomplished his desire to kill him by means of a mistletoe dart. Then the mistletoe plant was dedicated to Baldur’s mother, with the stipulation that it should never touch earth, Loki empire, and in her gentle hands it became the emblem of love and forgiveness, for it was then that everyone who passed underneath it received a kiss to show that it was no longer the instrument of death and hatred.