The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-17
AN ANCIENT CUSTOM
Houses and Churches Have Long
Been DeCked at Christmas


Holy stond in the halle, fayre to behold,
Ivy Stond without the dore; she Us full
| sore a-cold."
| This old carol shows us that the
practice of decking churches and
houses with holly at Christmas time
is very ancient. This pleasant custom
| is really older than Christmas itself,
for our heather forefathers decorated
their dwellings, with green boughs at
Yule-tide to show their belief that the
sun was coming back to make the
| earth again green. The name holly is
| said to be derived from the use of the
| branches and berries for the decoration
| of holy places, from which the tree was
called the holy tree" Duppa tells us
of custom said to be nearly as old as
| Rome itself, that branches of this
| tree were sent by the Romans to their
friends with their New Years gifts, as
emblematical of good wishes"
The holly sometimes attains the
! height of forty feet; and in the gar
| dening of former days holIies were Of
ten clipped into fantastic shapes writes
Sara D. Swift, in the Ladies' World.
| The leaves of the holly near the
| ground are much more prickly than
| those at the top of the tree. This was
| noted by the poet Southey and forms
| the subject of one of his poems, in
| which he says, that though in youth
| the struggle with the world may pro-
! duce harshness, yet that he should
| strive against all unkind feelings
Till the smooth temper of his ageshall be
Like the high leaves upon the holly tree +"
In the larger cities, during Christ
N q nAIr Tho 81
| with sellers of evergreens And this
| leads to brisk trade amongst many
poor folks who live in the country
These people, who, perhaps have no
work to do, tramp mile after mile I'M
til they are foot-sore and weary, with
their hands chapped and bleeding from
handling the prickly holly. After they
reach home with their load, they all
including the women and girls, go
to work making the holly into wreaths
or dividing it into punches. When this
is finished they carry their work to the
city, where they offer it for sale. And
the pay they receive for their Wreaths
and garlands means a good hot din
ner for Christmas day and many little
extra comforts which could not be had
except for this money.
Closely connected with the holly for
Christmas decorations are the branches
of mistletoe with their yellowish- green
leaves and profuSion of translucent
white berries.
The name mistletoe is derived from
two Greek words, and means 1.-THE
thief of the trees" 1t is a well known
parasite and gains its living by steal
ing the life from the tree it is on in
stead of honestly working for it,
1T clingeth, it clingeth, and fiourisheth
still
And sucketh the juices, its own veins IN
fill
OF the stem which supports it; a parasite
bold
That will never let 90, having once taken
hold
The way in which the seed is sown
10 remarkable. The white berries are
a favorite food of the birds, and af-
ter meal they fly to the other trees
and rub their bills clean of the sticky
jelly and this vegetable glue fastens
the seed to the tree When the berry
begins to sprout the tiny root alwaysl
turns towards the branch, whether on
It's upper or under side. This root steals
under the bark and draws nourishment
from the living tissues of the tree.
Inc mlStletoe was closely connected
with many of the superstitions of the
ancient Germans and of the British
Dru1ds. In the northern mythology,
Balder is said to have been slain with
spear of mistletoe. 1t was used by
the Romans in temple ceremonies, and
even still pagan character seems at
tached to 1T, for it is not permitted in
church decorations at Christmas.
though exceedingly popular to orna-
ment houses.
Mistletoe, in ancient times, was only
held sacred when found on the oak
The chief Druid, clothed in a long white
robe, climbed the tree on New Years
morning, and cut or scraped the mis-
tletoe from the consecrated oak with
a gold pruning hook 1t was allowed to ]
fall into white cloth held by another
white-robed Druid standing below. 1t
was atterward distributed among the
people as gifts on that day Whence
all New Years gifts are still called in
some rural parts of France "gui-
Ianneuf, gui meaning mistletoe.
These sprigs of mistletoe were care
fully preserved by the people as rene
dies for epilepsy and commissions. 1t
was also used as a charm against evil
spirits and a. preservative from all
danger But modern science has proved
that the plant isWorth less and possesses
no decided medicinal properties of
value.
Traces of our ancient regard for the
mistletoe still remain in the old prac-
tice of kissing under the mistletoe at
Christmas, this being regarded as a |
specially privileged place and time. |
This old custom has been thus describ-
ed by Charles Dudley Warner: "Ac-
cording to popular tradition the maid
who was not kissed under a bough of
mistletoe at Christmas would not be |
married during the following year.
There was once a notion that its hea-
then origin should exclude it from
Christmas decorations, but this found
no favor with the young people of
any period On the contrary, they took
good care that 1t should be hung, and
that it should have plenty of berries, |
for the ceremony under it was not du-
ly performed unless a berry was
plucked off with each kiss, and conse-
quently the supply of berries deter |
mined the number of kisses"
The mistletoe was a fortune teller |
for the boy or girl lovers of the long
ago. The leaves We're stripped from the |
stalks, then a shovelful of live Goals |
was pulled from under the huge logs
in the open fireplace and spread in a |
fiat pile upon the hearth. Each person
named three of her leaves and laid
them on top of the Goals and the first
leaf that popped or shot" was the one
who loved her best
This practice was a. scorce of infinite