Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-08-21
A Druidess With the Mistletoe.


The mistletoe is seen in Europe north
from Sweden to the Mediterranean, and
in America from the Ohio River to Texas
It is common in the western and southern
counties of England.
1t will live as long as there is the least
life in the tree, and die after it has killed
the trunk that sustained it. 1t is not
supposed to terminate spontaneously on
the boughs, but to be planted by birds
| that feed on its berries in their attempt to
wipe their bills from the pulp thus at
taching seeds to the bark.
The species called the sacred mistletoe
was the holy plant of the Druids. On the
sixth DAY after the appearance of the
crescent moon at the beginning of each
month, the plants were gathered on a
priests white robe and distributed among
the people, and where preserved by them
as charms.
In Northern mythology the mistletoe
represented Baulder, the beautiful, the
loved, and the early lost. For him the
hottest Druids sought, in the most solemn
ceremonies, in the new moon, the mistle-
toe on the consecrated oak The dis
covery of the plant on the oak was hailed
with songs and the sacrifice of a white
| bull. The plant was gathered from the
boughs with a knife of gold and caught
in the white race, and on no account must
it fall to the ground.
The usual Druidical programme was
carried out on the sixth day of the moon
nearest to the new year. At the foot of
the hallowed tree was raised triangular
oil IF nd
formed, headed by the eubagi, conduct
ing two white bulls which had never
been submitted to the yoke. They were
disciples, a herald clad in white and three
water, wine and ivory wand. Then came
the Yhite-robed supreme pontiff, with a
girdleeof gold, followed by the clergy,
mobiles and people.
Arrived at the oak, the bread, water
and wine were offered on the earthen
altar, the celebrant climbed into the tree,
and, with a golden knife or sickle, cut
off the bough of mistletoe and dropped
it into the outspread robe of the chief
pontiff, who, then, assisted by the eubagi,
Inundated the two bulls, and, according
to some writers, also sacrificed human
victims.
PRAYER was then offered over the mist
letoe- bough and small fragments of it
| were distributed to those present, and
sent to distant chieftans and temples.
All who received the portion of the
mystic plant renumerated the Druids,
and wore it round their necks as tails
man in war, and charm against sick
ness, entertainments and evil spirits. Thus
the old classical superstition, concerning
the parasite had travelled westward, and
and they called the mistletoe "gui'' (all
heal.)
Thus, the mistletoe on the oak formed
an important item in the Druidicial re-
ligious worship, and its yearly discovery
| $50 called), and the subsequent distribu-
ton of Its fragmentary portions, was
highly conducive to priestly power and
gain. 1t would be very easy matter for
the crafty Druidical priests to take a
bough of mistletoe from an apple, crab,
pear, hawthorn, cherry, poplar, lime,
elm, hornbeam, maple, willow, or any
other tree on which it f1ourished, and to
convey it to some selected oak, and there
place it in readiness for the superstitious
discovery on the morrow.
For unless the matter was managed by
some such artifice as this, how can we
account for the regularity of the annual
finding of the mistletoe on the oak-a
circumstance of the very greatest botan-
ical rarity at the present dayl Doctor
Daubeny, of Oxford, in order to meet
this objection, held the theory that in the
days Of the Druids the celestial descended
misletoe grew more frequently than it
now does upon the oak; and that when
Christianity was introduced into England
the converts destroyed all traces of Druid
icial worship, including the mistletoe
oaks.
This, however, does not accord with
the nature Of the plant, which would be
propagated at the present day in precise
ly the same way as in olden time; and if
the Druids could have inoculated some
likely oak with the seed Of the plant, the
same thing could be done now, and there
would also be the same chances of its be-
ing accidentally done by the birds.
Sir John Colbach, in 1850, regretted
that the misletoe should become the food
of birds and missel- thrushes; for he shared
the Druidical belief that it was efficaci-
Gus for epilepsy and cognate complaints.
In Germany it is believed to be SOW
ereign remedy against the most violent
bleeding, if the berry is cut small and
crushed when applied to the wound.
Shakespeare, in the only place that he
mentions this pretty parasite, makes
Tamora call it ''the baleful misletoe;"
while Herrick terms it ''the mystic misle-
toe," and Gay, "the sacred misletoe.'
Much research on this subject adduces
the few following instances: The misle-
toe is stated to have been discovered on
an oak at Frampton on-Severn, Glouces-
tershire. Mr.. Loudon saw misletoe-oak
on the estate Of Miss Woods, Shopwyke,
near Chichester.
Warner, in III, mentioned ON between
Woolford Row and the Bald-faced Stag,
near the ten mile stone, and also 'some"
this is very Observation-Disclosures Lough-
ton and Conyers's, COPIED Hall.
Up to 1903 there was misletoe oak at
the Hagg Mansion, Stavely, Derbyshire,
which had been mentioned in one of
Colepeper's manuscripts in the British
Museum, about 1880, as being where
''my Lord Frescheville did live, and here
grows the famous mistletoe tree, the only
oak in England that bear misletoe." This
marks the presumed rarity of the occur
renee.
In 1914, Robert Pennyand, Plaistow,
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