MISTLETOE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3275, 20 December 1916, Page 62

MISTLETOE.

Although the mistletoe bough is chiefly associated in the young mind with stolen kisses, there is scarcely flower or bush in the world so hallowed by tradition. Everybody knows that the mistletoe is a parasite, a waxen bush, which generally grows high in other trees. It is neither remarkable for its beauty nor its utility. The wonder of it is how it achieved its eminence. The secret of this, like the origin of so many familiar institutions, is shrouded in the 'dim past, going back to thoe priests of our Celtic ancestors, the Druids.

The cathedral arches under which the Celts worshipped were the spreading branches of the oak; therefore amid the dense foliage of greenery, the mistletoe, the mystical parasite of'the tree, was a symbol full of meaning, for it was believed to renew its life by some agency differing from that which propagated all other plants, and to exist by a divine power. Here, under the oak, the favourite tree of the Celtic sun-god, at the period of the winter solstice, priests and people sacrificed white bulls and human victims. The mistletoe was gathered and dispensed in small sprays, to be hung by the worshippers over their doors as amulets against evil, and propitiation to the sylvan deities.

The Scandinavian legend of the mistletoe, which tells the story of how Loki, the god of fire, made the mistletoe the agent of the death of Ballier, most glorious of Odin's children, is familiar to all students of Norse sagas. The mistletoe continues to be specially cultivated in England for its sale, which is always large at Christmastide, but the apple tree has taken the place of the oak as the soil upon which the phm ) fjeds the more generously. In France practically all the mistletoe offered for sale at this time of the year comes from the poplar trees. It grows so abundantly that there is no need of cultivating it. In fact, the thrifty peasants are only too' glad to have some itinerant mistletoe merchant come and gather it and carry it away.

The kissing privilege connected with the mistletoe during the days of Yule is probably the most familiar relic of its traditions. Both the Yule fires and the mistletoe were of old believed to have special virtues as safeguards against the powers of evil, yet, when they become thoroughly embodied in the Christian legend, it was not so much this as their suggestion of the divine power which, at Christmas, kept the Prince of Darkness and his satellites in abject submission, that gave them their value. All readers of Shakespeare will remember the legend and its association with the crowing cock, as put in the mouth of Marcellus, in "Hamlet": It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say that ever 'gainst that season conies Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night lonpr; And then, they say, ne spirit can walk

abroad: The nights are wholesome; then no planets

strike, No fairy tales, nor witch hath x DOW « r to

charm. So hallowed and so gracious is the time. Christmas Day was first celebrated as the birthday of Christ about the year 180, although its institution is attributed to Telesphorus in 138 A.D. But it is certain that Christmas carols, trees, feasts, and presents like the mistletoe, are many centuries old, inaugurated by the early Church to combat and purify the heathen customs of the great Yule feast, reaching from December 25 to January 6. The Puritan Parliament of England abolished Christmas altogether, proclaiming ivy, holly, and mistletoe to be seditious badges, but after the Restoration the Christmas festivities were renewed.