The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-12-31
The MiStletOe

and 500 men with provisions were
sent to their relief.
The MistletOe.
In old-fashioned English families
a branch of the mistletoe is suspended,
on Christmas eve, from the ceiling
of the hall. Any woman who passes
beneath the mystic spray incurs the
penalty of being then and there
kissed by any man who chooses to
avail himself,of the privilege. One of
the superstitlOLs associated with this
custom is that the maid who Is not
thus kissed at Christmas will not be
married during that year.
The hanging of the mistletOe is q
relic of the days of Druidism, handed
down through the centuries. The
Druids reverenced the plant when
found on the oak, the fav0rite tree of
their divinity Tutanes. At the
winter solstice a great festival was
celebrated in bis honor. The people,
led by their priests, the Drulds, went
in procession to gather the mistletoe.
When the oak vas reached on which
it grew, two white bulls were bound
to a tree. The chief Druid, clothed
in white, assembled it, and with a
golden knife cut the sacred plant,
which was caught by another priest
in the folds OF his robe.
The bulls, and often human victims.
were sacrificed, and the mistlet0e, d.
vlded into small pieces, was distri-
butte i among the people. They hung
the sprays over the doors of their
houses as a Precipitation and shelter
to the sylvan deities during the sea-
son of cold.
In the Scandinavian mythology |
the mistletoe is plant of no mean
Importance, so the legend relates,
having been the instrument of the
staying of Bladder, the god of elo.
quence and poetry.
Balder, one day, told Friga, his
mother, that he had dreamed a dream
which forboded his death. She, to
protect her son, secured an oath
from fire, air, earth, water, the ami
mails aad. plants, that they would do
Balder no harm. He, being thus as
sured, took his place among the COM
bats of the gods, and fought without
fear. Il
Loake, his enemy, seeing that not
one of his arrows, which fell j showers
upon Balder, did him the least harm,
determined to discover the secret of
his invulnerability. Disgusting him
self as an old woman, he paid his
court to Friga, and complimented her
upon the valor and good fortune OF
her son. She, seduced by the fattery,
answered that nothing could injure !
BaIder, as all the powers of nature
had sworn not to harm him. She
added, however, that there was one
plant which she had not invoked,
thinking it too insignificant to inhlct
injury on any one.
"And what may be the name OF the
plant? asked Loake, in the bland
est of tones.
sit is a feeble little shoot which
grows on the bark of the oak"
the simple Friga.
Loake Immediately procured the
and made from it an arrow.
Entering the assembly of the gods
he said to the blind Heda, "Why do
you not contend with the arrows
of Balder?"
IL am blind, and nave no arms"
Heda.
"Balder is before thee. Shoot"
said Loake, handing her the arrows
of mistletoe. Heda shot and Balder
fell dead, pierced by the insignificant
plant.
Now, the mistletoe is found more
frequently on the apple tree than on
the oak. Its propagation was ascribed
to the missed thrush which fed upon
its berries.
A Welsh writer a century ago de-
clared the mistletoe to be the for
hidden tree of Eedn, and while the
holly was dedicated to Saturn, Friza,
the Northern Venus, was its presld-
ing genius.
The Utah and Northern Is getting |
another lot of locomotives from the
Den rel and South Park. Some ten