The Carlisle independent., 1917-12-20
tsy IDA M. BRUCE in Utica elobe.)

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 HEN a young man at q EwT5 Christmas party leads. #, H with an attempt at nom tN h@ chalanee. some charming A<9I w young lady beneath Il K,I@{S~ bough Of mistletoe in or essv der 10 win I "mistletoe
 kiss" he is of the opinion that he is turing the young lady into q situation where. by the decree of an ancient custom, she must forfeit the aforesaid kiss.
 Frankness compels me to confess that the turing k done hy the young lady. For their Christmas parties they secure and suspend the mistlet6e and she ls indeed q most sedate and rather chilling young person who will not. during the festivities. allow herself to be "lured beneath the mistletoe. And all this is quite within her rights. IL k custom she inherited from ances- tors who dwelt in Britain or Scandt- navia, centuries ago Today the mis- tletoe and the misuetoe kiss are as sociated only with Christmas But, in truth. mistletoe had it's significance centuries before the birth in Beth lehem which gave Us Christmas.
 ScandinaviaHs claim that mistletoe customs originated with them. out there is an English legend anteaating those of Scandinavia, which tells how the girls of semibarbaric Britain, in the golden age of the Druids, did them selves hang up boughS of mistletoe and lure young men into their em- brace
 According to this legend Cheim, an ancient high priest. had a great temple in the forest where he taught young men to become priests. So popular did this temple become that half the young men of the countryside were leaving their homes and people. and becoming Druid priests.
 There was great need of the young men in the camps to hunt and fish and to plant and. above all. there were So many more mafdens than young men left that they decided something must be done to reclaim them. The girls sought an ancient witch and asked her help.
 Pick wonder mistletoe that grows without roots upon the trees. go 10 the edge of the forest round about the tree temple of Chelm and hang fl there all around and about the forest. Stand in waiting there, well hidden, until the young men coming forth from the forest each night to bring food to the temple, are under the mistletoe, then step forth They will clasp you and kiss you whereupon do you scream right Justify and the young men shall be yours"
 How the Girls Won Back the Men.
 fiR maidens followed this advice and hung the mistetoe in festoons about the edge of the forest. Stand ing under it, the young men felt im- pelled to kiss the maidens who stepped forth to greet them. The maidens as instructed. screamed lustily and Chelm and other of the old Druid priests rushed forth, fearing their roung men were being murdered When the good old Druids saW the young men embracing the maidens they drove them away. for they would have ne one among them who had ought TO do with women.
 And SO. through The peculiar inlu- enca of the mis5lerae, the maidens uon back the young men. but the cus tom of hanging up Histief8e was kept up. Later after the Introduction of Christianity, the custom Was added te the Christmas festivities.
 Christmas Festivities.
 From Scandinavian mythology cones The weird but interesting story of thf origin of mistIetoe. that paIe-berriet narasite of the forest. One of the best of these legends 3s thar of BaIdur son of -WoGin. in the days when those strange gods are said to have walked and talked with the mortals on earth as did Jupiter and Apollo and Diana and I.at0nia and the other gods and gaddesses of Olympus.
 Paldar was the Scandinavian god oi sunshine and summer and was nat uraIIv beloved by ail except Loki the god of hearth fires For, while the neople rushed out of doors to see Bal dur when he brought the summer sun they had no use for Lol until the next winter. consequently Loki dis liked Baidur
 Nanua, goddess of the blossoms and wife of Baldur, dreamed terrible dreams of the death of Baidur, and she went to the great god Wodiu. her father-in-law, and told him and he was greatly troubled But messengers were sent forth throughout the world