Evening star., 1914-12-26
MISTLEIOE.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

! <asSoCidlSu IN HiOSl tIllIiuS WIN
| Christmas holidays and stolen kisses
and other delightful things, mistle-
toe is a thing of dual nature. For
on some of our national forests it is
a pest that stunts and deforms the
trees; and the Christmas crop of mis-
| tletoe is raised at the expense of many
| board feet of good timber.
The story of mistletoe as a symbol of
/ love Is very ancient. Its beginnings
are shrouded in mystery, and the plant
has been subject of folklore in many
lands and throughout the ages. By
the Druids of Britain and Gaul it
was held sacred to Freya, the goddess
of love, and by the Romans to Proser-
pima. When Aeneas had become god
and wished to revisit the earth, he
was guided by the doves of Proser-
pima to the golden bough different
from the tree ITSELF" which ne must
bring to the goddess before he could
| win her divine permission to leave
Olympus.
To the Druids it was much more
than symbol of love, however. In
England mistletoe grows most often
upon apple trees. and is very seldom
! found upon oaks Hence, whenever
. W
| oak it was regarded as a certain sign
that the supreme deity had made
choice af that tree for himself. anu
it was worshiped accordingly. At the
end of the year. when the moon was
new. the Druid priests went forth to
gather the sacred bough. One of them
ascended the tree and Topped off the
bough with a golden sickle. while
white bulls that had never been yoked
were then sacrificed on the spot, with
prayers that the deity would favor
those to whom he had sent the precious
boon of the mistletoe.
(
The osculatory rites which have al
ways been associated with mistletoe
derive from it
Misflefoe and connection wit n
the G cd d 8 8
Kissing Penalty. Freya, and they
have been cherished by lovers and kept
alive even after cold science and
modern skepticism have divested the
qualities, and have declared it pest.
In old English days. mistletoe was al
| ways hung in the halls and kitchens,
and the gallent who caught maiden
lingering under the bough had the
| right to kiss her. and pull off berry
! for each kiss. In olden times people
| also believed that a maiden who was
| not kissed under the mistletoe at
Christmas time would not be married
during the following year.
| The strange and beautiful appearance
| of the mistletoe has appealed to the
| imaginations of all primitive and
superstitfous peoples. It was long
worn in an amulet as a charm against
poisons. and early medical writer's all
considered it a valuable remedy. One
| of them mentions it as cure for
| epilepsy, and there is extant an ancient
brochure by Sir John Colbatch, an old
English medical authority, called "a
dissertation concerning the mstletoe
a most wonderful specific remedy for
all convulsive distempers" In Brit
tany it is still considered to heal fevers
and give great strength for wrestling
and the Inhabitants of Elgin and
Moray still cut withes of mistletoe and
keep them as charms, much as some
Americans carry a rabbits foot.
seventeenth century declares that mis-
tletoe will cure swelling behind the
ears, and that a tincture of the berries
made with oil, will cure "a grievous
and sore stitch Many farmers in
various parts of Europe still believe
that it is useful for curing sick
. travagant claims for the mistletoe. it
has been expunged from the book of
materia medica by all modern uni
versities. Its only practical uses to-
day are for the manufacture of bird
lime, which is made from the sticky
contents Of the berries, and as an
time.
| The derivafion ~ the mama ~ ,,;,&1e