Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1917-12-22

10 do Baldur no harm. Ev-
erything animate and in
animate, the animals and
men and fish and birds. -
the water and earth and rocks aad
trees, the winds and clouds and ra'n
and snow, all agreed never TO harm
Baldur.
go forth and weep no more, daugh
ter" said Wodin 10 Mamma. mo harm
can now come TO your husband. my ,
son" and Mama went forth happy.
After that all the gods used to
amuse themselves hurting stones and
axes and spears at Baldur and he
stood and laughed at thSm, because
neither wood nor petal nor anything
could harm him. Ii was great sport
for everyone. one day while at this
sport an old woman asked Mamma why
they We're trying TO kill Baldur.
Everything has promised never TO
harm him." she explained.
"Everything?" queried the old wom-
an.
Except the mistletoe, what can that
little shrub dog Mamma laughed scorn-
fully.
The old woman hurried away. OF
course 1t was LOki in disguise. She
got twig a. mistletoe and hardened
ii by charring the outside before the
fire, fitted the point to a lance and
hurled it at Baldur, whereupon it
pierced his heart and he feIl dead.
Dedicated to Love and Affection.
AS a peace offering the gods dedi-
Gated the mistletoe TO love and affec-
ton and peace just so long as 1t never
touched Loki's territory, the ground.
/ Ever since then the mistletoe has
4 grown without roots. far away from
/ the ground and even 10 this day 1t is
used by suspending ii above the floor
! or ground.
/ And so il IS that both ancient Brit
ain and Scandinavia lay their claim to
! mistletoe customs and the origin of
I suspending a branch Of it beneath
which youth may kiss. There is little
doubt but what the custom was In use
thousand years before the origin Of
( Christmas While the story of the
maidens who lured back to their
camps, and to themselves, the young
men who We're about 20 become Druid
priests, gives good account Of our Gus
tom of kissing beneath the mistletoe
today, to Scandinavia also belongs
much credit When those brave and
( romantic Scandinayians looked for
ward to Yalhalla as their heaven, ana
worShiped the gods Thor and Wodiu
on Thor's day and Wodin's day (Which
is where we get sur Thursday and
. Wednesday,. they used to have GER
tain great feast days for their gods.
II became the custom, on observing
Thor's day. to build great fires. These
were called "Junl" fires, As everyone
knows, the Scandinavian y is pre-
nounced quite like our pronunciation
Of the letter "Y." consequently those
fires were spoken of as "Yule" fires.
I The brighter the fires. the higher
the flames lowered through the for
ests where the Scandinavians used TO
gather to pay honor to the great god
Thor. the greater pleased Ras Thor.
. Il
out the bestof wood tC burn.
Then men would 90 into the forest
looking for "Juul" logs. and they soon
learned that the trees upon which
much misfletoe chung would give the
brightest fires. They did not know
the reason for this. and believed ,Gst
! it was due TO the w~rk Of the great
I Thor himself who caused the misrle-
toe to grow on those trees without
roots solely as means Of letting his
/ people know which trees were best
/ for burning in his honor.
And so whenever anyone met under
the mistletoe In the great forests. 10
matter how great enemies they were.
they dropped their weapons and greet
ed each other kindly, nor would they
take up arms against each other until
/ the sunrise Of another day. This was
/ their tribute in memory Of Thor
4 Fetish OF Good Luck
They began to take bits Of the mis-
tletoe into their homes and hang il
/ over the d0orvays. and II any enemies
came. they could not enter the houses
beneath the mistletoe without aecom-
! iug friends 10 the people Inside 50 loaS
as they remained there From This
came the habit OF greeting people who
stepped under the Iaistletoe with an
embrace or d kiss. and at great indoor
feasls the .nistletoe vas hing W ID
the room and the people greeted eacn
other with kisses.
+ Later this mistletoe hanging az
feasts came TO be- pun in use only az
the Christmas feast and from that
grew the custom Of hanging up the