Mistletoe Lore

Southland Times, Issue 21273, 19 December 1930, Page 19

Mistletoe Lore

Christmas Festival

The sun blazes overhead, and the blue waves lap the shore when Christmas comes round in green New Zealand, the pohutukawa comes alive with scarlet and crimson, and the bees hum everywhere. Far otherwise is the symbol of the Christ faith kept in other lands, and, though most people like to think of Christmas as a purely religious festival, most of its observances and its associations are of pagan origin. The Christians in Britain took the custom over from those who worshipped heathen gods, and invested it with a new and mystical significance. So by degrees there grew round the holly a symbolism to which the tree in its attributes readily lent itself. Its general brightness made it a symbol for rejoicing at the birth of the Christchild,. its ever-greenness spoke of the life unending, ita white flowers of purity, while its sharp spines and blood-red berries foretold the crown of thorns and the passion that lay before Him.

In the middle ages a curious rivalry was supposed to exist between the holly and the ivy as to which plant took preminence in the Christmas celebrations. The ivy’, being dedicated to Bacchus, was not thought to be an altogether suitable plant with which to decorate the insides of buildings, whilst the holly, which by this time had become the “holly” tree, was used inside both church and house. The Mystic Mistletoe. The mistletoe—emblem of love, luck and liberty—figured in the ceremonies of the

early Greeks and Romans. But the priests of archaic Celtic nations more particularly venerated the shrub, and ascribed to it innumerable curative properties. They considered that God specially distinguished the oak causing the mistletoe to flourish upon it. The Druids prepared their sacrifices under the oak tree which fostered the mistletoe, and in the cutting of it solemn ceremonies were observed. Kissing under the mistletoe originated in Scandinavian mythology; and in their legends the shrub is dedicated to Friga, the Goddess of Love. The fatal arrow which pierced the heart of Baldur, the Sun God, was fashioned from a twig of mistletoe. According to the fable, Loki, the Spirit of Evil, and the author of all calamities, made an arrow from the mistletoe which he gave to the blind god Hoder, the Spirit of Darkness, for trial. Hoder shot the arrow, and it killed the favourite of the gods, Baldur, whom Loki hated. Baldur was restored to life, and the mistletoe, presented to Friga, so everyone, in future, when passing under it received a kiss as a proof that the plant was symbolical of life and love. As a remedial agent, mistletoe is of < great antiquity, and it was termed by the Druids “all heal.” It is now used for making bird-lime. It was also regarded as a most powerfud means—when suspended round the deck—of driving away witches, and when hung up in places of worship and private houses it was a safeguard against evil spirits.