The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-01-01

plant. Imagine a grapevine or trumpet /
creeper, while retaining its foliage, to
sever connection with the soil and to
thrust root-like outgrowths into the
body of the tree to which it clings, in
order to absorb from the tree what II
absorbed from the soil. This would
represent the relation which mistle-
toe sustains to its host
Birds Feed On Berries.
Birds feed upon its berries and scat
ter them from tree to tree. The seed,
inclosed in a sticky. pulpy covering,
readily adheres to any part OF the
tree upon which its falls, whether
branch or trunk, and when germinat-
ing, a spike-like "sinker root" bOres
through the bark until IT reaches the
sap-its life blood. Then the plants
growth spreads or increases in quaint
ity, the tree proportionately starves
and finally dies.
It is evident that the use of flowers
and green boughs as means of decor
alton is almost instructive to human
nature. History tells us that scarcely
any nation, civilized or savage, is
found to become more or less familiar
with it.
The decking of churches, dwellings
and stores with evergreens at Christ
mas seems proximately to be derived
from the custom prevalent during the
Saturnalia of the inhabitants of Rome
ornamenting their temples and houses
with boughs. From this circumstance
we find several early ecclesiastical
councils prohibiting the members OF
the church to initiate the Pagans in
thus ornamenting their homes. But in
! process of time, the Pagan custom was
/ like others of a similar origin. intro
duced into and incorporated with the
/ ceremonies of the church itself The
sanction of our Savior likewise came
to be pleaded for the practice, he hav-
! ing entered Jerusalem in triumph
amid the shouts of the people, who
strew palm branches. holly and mistle-
| toe in his way. 80
The Jews employed green boughs in
I, their Feast of Tabernacle in the month
| of September; the ancient Druids and
| other Celtic nations hung up the
nistletoe and green branches of diff
ferent kinds over their doors to pro-
pitiate the woodland sprites. In short,
the feeling thus so exhibited is one of
natural religion, and therefore not to
be traced exclusively to any particular
creed or form of worship.
1t is an old English custom to let
decorations of mistletoe, rosemary,
holly and ivy remain in the churches
from Christmas Eve till the end of
January, but in accordance with the
ecclesiastical canonS, they must all be
cleared away before the End of Feb
ruary, or Candlemas Day. The same
holds good as custom with regard to
private dwellings, superstitions in both
cases rendering it a fatal presage, if
any of the sylvan ornaments are re-
tanned beyond the period just indi-
Gated Herrick thus alludes to the
popular prejudice:
Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bayes and mistletoe;
Down with the holly, ivy, all
Wherewith We drest the Christmas hall;
That so the superstitious fiud
Not one least branch there left behind:
For look. how many leaves there be
( Neglected there, maids trust TO me,
So many COLLINS you shall see!
In several parts of Oxfordshire il
was the custom for the maid servant
to ask the man for mistletoe and ivy
to decorate the house. If he refused
! or neglected to fetch in a supply. the
maids stole a pair of his breeches and
nailed them up to the gate in the yard
or highway. A similar usage prevailed
in other English sections when the
brought the penalty of being debarreC
from the well known privileges of the
I mistletoe.
sacred to Old Druids.
The mistletoe was particularly ga.
, cred to the old Druids, because no
! only its berries but its leaves grew il
clusters of three united to one stalk
The Christian Irish hold the shamrock
sacred in like manner, because it hai
, three leaves united on one stem On tn.
:
: mistIetoe to the high altar of the ca
thedral as an emblem of the saluti
ferrous event of Messiah and proclaim
: ed public and universal liberty,-par
don and freedom of all sorts of lin
ferior and even wicked people at tn
gates of the city. toward the fou
quarters of Heaven
For a rollicking, joyous, old-fash
Toned English Christmas we must g,
down with Mr.. Pickwick and hi
friends to spend Christmas at Dingle.
| Dell with Mr.. WardIe. The family as
sembled in the kitchen, according t
annual custom, observed by old War
dies forefathers from time immemor
! ial. From the center Of the ceiling il
the kitchen Old WardIe had just sus
pended a huge branch OF mistletoe I
| instantaneously gave rise to scene o
general, delightful struggling and con
fusion. In the midst of 1t Mr.. Pick
wick, with a gallantry that would hav
| done honor to a descendant of Lad
Tollimglower herself. took the oil
lady by the hand. led her beneath tn
mystic branch and saluted her in a
lowed by a general scram bling an
kissing under the mistletoe.
An old writer tells US that thistle
toe, a magical shrub, appears to b
the forbidden tree in the middle c
Eden; for the Edda, the mistletoe
said to be Balder's death, who ys
persisted through blindness and
woman
1t is found by the allusion Of virgi
who compared the golden bough i
Infernis to the mistletoe. that the US
of this plant was not unknown in tn
religious ceremonies of the ancient
particularly the Greeks. of whose poe
nc was the acknowledged imitator.