Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1917-12-21
- HEN . young man at
<sy IDA M. BRUCE in Utica eIobe.)

$s WT1 Cnr1StnaS party leduS'
HV< with an attempt at non
~ N chalance, some charming
W." young lady beneath a
HHf\ bough of mistletoe in Or
der to win q "mistletoe
49, kiss" he is of the opinion
that he Is Turing the young lady into
situation where, by the decree Of an
ancient custom, she must forfeit the
aforesaid kiss.
Frankness compels me to confess
that the Turing is done by the young
lady. For their Christmas parties they
secure and suspend the mistletoe and
she is indeed 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. It
Us a custom she inherited from ances-
tors who dwelt In Britain or Scandi-
navla, centuries ago. Today the mis-
tletoe and the mistletoe kiss are as
ISOLATED only with Christmas. But,
In truth, mistletoe had it's significance
centuries before the birth in Beth
1ehem which gave US Christmas.
Scandinavians claim that mistletoe
customs originated with them, but
there is an English legend antedating
those Of Scandinavia which tells how
the girls Of semibarbaric Britain, in
the golden age Of the Druids, did them
selves hang up bou9hs of mistletoe
and lure young men into their en-
brace.
According to this legend Chelm, an
ancient high priest, had 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.
Ca There was great need of the young
men in the camps to hunt and fish and
ito plant, and, above all, there were so
fsnany more maidens than young men
left that they decided something must
be done to reclaim them. The girls
sought an ancient witch and asked her
help.
,@''e ''Pick yonder mistletoe that grows
without roots upon the trees, go to
athe edge Of the forest round about the
tree temple of Chelm and hang it
dhere all around and about the forest.
Stand In waiting there, we'll hidden,
until the young men coming forth from
the forest each night to bring food to
1HrA trroo r10 <f1n vnicf1n
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.
The maidens followed this advice
and hung the mistletoe in festoons
about the edge of the forest. Stand
ing under it, the young men felt i'm
f,elled to kiss the maidens who stepped
forth to greet them. The maidens,
AS instructed, screamed Justify and
Chem and other of the old Druid
priests rushed forth, fearing their
young men were being murdered.
When the good old pruids saw the
young men embracing the maidens
they drove them away, for they would
slave no one among them who had
ought to do with women.
And so, through the peculiar influ-
ence Of the mistletoe, the maidens
won back the young men, but the Gus
tom of hanging up mistletoe was kept
, slp. Later after the Introduction of
Christianity, the custom was added to
the Christmas festivities.
Christmas Festivities.
From Scandinavian mythology comes
the weird but interesting story of the
origin of mistlet0e, that pale-berried
parasite of the forest. One of the best
of these legends is that of Baldur, son
!bOf Wodin, in the days when those
range gods are said to have walked
as talked with the mortals on earth,
and Jupiter and Apollo and Diana
goddessesa and the other gods and
Baldur w6llympus.
sunshine and Scandinavian god of
uralH beloved byper and was nat
: ged Of hearth fires. Except Lok1, the
peop,e rtizhed out of:-dad. while: the
dur when DE .br6ighf ttia sri. See:B dl:
they had E0 Use: fdKg ii5 6iKii:: siiT silaf:'
!: next :wintsf SS $i 9s3f }6s
@slsl ]; illi|| :; 5 81 s.