The Spectator., 1914-12-15
M|STLETOE HISTORY
Gathering of Plant Sacred Rite in Druidical Religious
 Festivals.
Also Considered a Potent Remedy for Ills, Belief Which Still Exists in Some of the Remote Places
 of Europe.


 " know the history of it as a AN Yuletide symbol. Pretty
 ~ girls are kissed under it and a great deal of fun and nonsense is carried on apropos of it, but no one stops to think of how ancient dec once thought to be.
 Almost everybody has a vague knowledge that the Druids of old had something to do with the gathering of mistletoe, but just what that some thing was is not clear to the average mind
 The fact is that the ancient Celts ill their druidical religion had two great festivals, one in June and the other in December, the latter being equivalent to our Christmas. In both of these great festivals the gathering of the mistletoe was a sacred rite.
 Plny in his Natural History" de- scribes the ceremony. Speaking of the Druids' worship of the oak, he says: "They believe that whatever grows on
  a sign that the tree has been chosen by the god himself. The mistletoe is very rarely to be met with, but when it is found they gather it with solemn ceremony. This they do especially on the sixth day of the moon, because by the sixth day the moon has plenty of vigor and has not run half it's course.
 After the preparations have been made for a sacrifice and a feast under the tree they hail 1t as the universal healer and bring to the spot two white bulls whose horns have never been bound before, A priest clad in white robe climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe. which is caught in a white cloth. Then they sacrifice the victims. praying that God may make his own gift to prosper with those upon whom he has be- slowed 1t.
 They believe that a potion pre- pared from mistletoe will increase their flocks and that the plant Is a remedy against all poison"
 
 many ills. and this belief is still to be found in many remote places in Flu rope. In Holstein, for example. the mistletoe is regarded as healing remedy for wounds, and in Lacaune, France. it is always administered by the native people as an antidote for poison.
 In the northeast of Scotland people used to cut withes of mistletoe at the March full moon; these they bent in circles and kept for year to cure hec- tic levers and other troubles. In some parts of Germany the mistletoe is es- pecially esteemed as remedy for the ailments of children, who sometimes wear it hung around the neck as an amulet
 In Sweden on Midsummer eve mis- tletoe is diligently sought after. the people believing it to be possessed of many mystic qualities. and that if a sprig of 1t is attached to the ceiling of the dwelling house. the horses stall or the cows crib. the trolls will then ot HONtTiSss lO luyuft eilHtI iiidu oi beast Branches of the plant are com monly seen in farm houses hanging from the ceiling to protect the dwell ings from all harm, but especially from fire, and persons afflicted with the fall ing sickness think they can ward off all attacks of the malady by carrying about with them knife which has a handle of mistletoe.
 Like their Swedish neighbors, many German peasants consider the mistle- toe powerful charm against evil spir- its. A similar belief seems to have fingered among the Romans. whose re. ligion at very early date was some what similar to that of the Druids. When Aeneas descended into Hades he gathered to protect himself from the internal powers a branch of mistletoe. which vergil calls the golden bough.