Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-02-17
THE MrsTLEToE souGH.
Singular Notions Concerning Its
Origin and Growth.

Origin and Growth.
The oak long held its place among
The mystic trees, and to injure one was
considered an act of sacrilege, the last
survival of this being exposed in the
saying that ito cut lakewood is unfor-
tunate.'' An instance is given late
as 1867, where the cutting down of an
oak, to which the mystic plant had at
tached itself, was followed by most dire
consequences. The mistletoe was cut
up and sold to apothecaries in London.
put of those who cut it one became
lame, two others each lost an eye, while
the man who cut down the tree broke
his leg.
But all legend does not give the oak
as the first home of the mistletoe. There
were those who believed that it was
| the forbidden tree in the midst of the
Garden of Eden, the tree of the Sknowl
edge of good and evil" while still 9th
/ ers claimed that it was once a forest
tree, but, the cross having been made
| of its wood, it has since the crucifiXiOn
| been only a parasite. Just why it has
been enthusiastically communicated
and excluded from church decorations
| II is difficult to say. There is an in
stance on record of its having once been
| taken in procession to the high altar of
York cathedral, but Immediately taken
out again, whereupon a general indul-
gence and pardon of sins was given at
the city gates. Another instance is on
record of it's having once been found
among the decorations of an English
church, but by order of the clergyman
| Immediately taken down.
Where and when the custom of kiss
ing under the mistletoe originated is
| also uncertain. Some authorities claim
that the miStletoe was not excluded
from the early church decorations, and
that at certain part in the service the
people were allowed to embrace and
kiss each other, but that this custom
became SO boisterOus a demonstration
that it was abandoned, the mist1etoe,
which seems to have been in some way
| connected with it, being then and there
| communicated. We find the present
custom first in the kitchens of great
houses, where the mistletoe was hung
at Christmas, and woe to the maid who
did not get a kiss beneath it; for one
thing, she was doomed to remain single
for that year at least. Woe also to the
man who refused or forgot the request
of the maid to furnish holly and ivy for
the decorations of the house; he was
debarred from the privileges of the
mistletoe. 1t was long customary, too,
to pluck leaf or berry after every
kiss.
But more picturesque setting to this
custom of kissing under the mistle
toe is that furnished by the Scandi-
navian legend. According to that, at
the request of the gods and goddesses,
Bladder, after his death by the mistletoe
arrow, was restored to life, while the
nistletoe itself was given into the keep
ing of his mother, Frigga, who was the
Sea ndinavian Venus, the goddess of
love. But her power over it lasted only
as long as it did not touch the earth.
Loki's dominion, and she decreed that
everyone who passed under it as it hung
aloft should receive kiss to prove that
it was the emblem of love and not of
death We can see in this also the prob
able origin of the idea that if mistletoe
is dropped or placed on the ground mis-
fortune will follow.
The song of the ''Mistletoe Bough,"
familiar to all, has doubtless done
much to keep alive the old custom. AT
the present time, however, the nistle
toe is rarely found on the oak IN Eng
land. and is so scarce that the kissing
bunch,' a bunch of evergreens orna-
mented with oranges and ribbons, has
taken its place. In this country, on the
contrary, the plant, with its dainty
white berries, is menace to the life of
thousands of oaks used for shade and
ornamental purposes, and hundreds OF
dollars are spent yearly for its destruc-
ton in order to preserve the life of the
tree from which it gets its own life and
nourishment. When this is going on in
d southern town, in passing along an
avenue of oaks, one literally walks on Il
carpet of mistletoe, and as the dainty
berries crack under the feet there comes
a feeling-is it inherited ?-that one is
almost committing an act of sacrilege
to thus tread upon the ''curer of all ills"
N. Y. Post.