Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-12-15

consider that you were perpetuatlnS
one of the most hallowed and exalted
of religious ordinances handed down
through the ages in rendering such
tender homage to this orphan plant
of wondrous birth 7"
And would it not surprise you to
learn that our very word marry
and that our most imprisoned Of the
graces Of Terpsichore-the waltz
are additionally enmeshed in the can
ny tendrils of the p~early-berried mis-
tletoe?
The mistletoe is a freak plant, a
parasite or excrescence. In it's en-
laws of gravitation by pushing it's
radicles In the opposite direction to
the generality of plants. Not only its
berries but its leaves grow in clusters
of three united on one stock, hence
its sacred place in religious rites as
a symbol of the Holy Trinity.
1t was believed by the Druids and
other ancient sects in northern and
western Europe hat n tree to
which the mistletoe attaches itself is
selected by God himself for special
favor, and that all that grows on 1t is
sen direct from heaven.
Contrary to the general belief, it Is
found more rarely on the oak tree
than on the apple, ash, elm, poplar,
willow and hawthorn, and it is due to
this scarcity that 1t was vested with
exceptional reverence whom discovered
clinging to the sacred tree Of the
Druids-a name derived from the
Greek word drus, or druce, meaning
an oak.
Says Pliny: when it (mistletoe
growing upon an oak) is discovered 1t
is treated with great ceremony. They
called it by a name (guthil, or gutheyl
good heal), which in their language
signifies the curer Of all Ills" After
they have well and duly prepared
their festival cheer under the tree,
they bring hither a milk-white COW
and a bullock, hitherto unyoked; then
the priests in white vesture climb into
the tree and prune OF b sacred herb
with a gold hook, bill or sickle, the
branches falling beneath into a white
sagum sheet. They must never touch
the ground. The common people re-
main at a distance, formed in a circle,
while the priests approach with trem-
bling awe the bloody victims, which
were carried around the omen fire.
After this the animals are slaughtered
as a sacrifice-doubtless to the god
dess of f%ecundity, for the mistletoe is
q symbol Of the prolific.
In the myths Of all nations we find
a holy tree" a world tree" Among
the Druids, as we'll as among other
creeds, this tree was the oak; and It
1t a very interesting thing to know
that our word church-from kirk
finds its root in quervus, the generic
name for the oak. This tree was
cherished as the mother and nurse OF
man, and was supposed to be the
dwelling place Of the food-dispensing
god. The ominous rustling Of the
leaves and the mysterious notes Of
the feathered songsters signalized the
presence Of the divinity to the awe
struck votaries who consulted the in
dwelling oracle, burning odoriferous
fumes in homage. The Dodonean
oak and its oracle are celebrated in
epic, myth and story, it's mystic ritual
being zealously perpetuated by the
Druids. They danced circular dances
in consecrated groves. and the rem
nants of an old chant still preserved
by the Celts-Hey Derry Down Dey,
'in a circle the oak moves around
reveals the archtype Of our modern
waltz.
Another reminder that "the groves