Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1917-12-13
How the Mstletoc
Came to Mean
~: Kissing.

We decorate our homes with sprays
of mistletoe at Christmas time. but
few of us know the history of ii as II
Yuletide symbol. Pretty girls are
kissed under it and Il great deal nj fuh
and nonsense are carried on aprGp"s OF
1t, but no one stops ~ think OF no"
| ancient a decoration ii is OF how sacred
1t was once thought to be. The ancient
| Celts In their pruidical religion had
two great festivals. one in June anh
the other in December, the latter being
equivalent to our Christmas. In both
of these great festivals the gathering
: of the mistletoe was n sacred rite.
The Druids believed that Il potion
prepared from mistletne woul III
crease their tiocks and that the plant
was a remedy against all poison. 1t
! was believed to be q curative for many
ills. and this belief is still to be found
in many remote places in Europe. In
Lataune. France. for example. IT Is
always administered by the native.
dwellers as al anridote for poison.
! In the northeast of Scotland people
used TO cut withes of mistletoe at the
March full moon; these they bent in
circles and kept for a year to cure
hectic fevers and other troubles. In
Sweden on midsummer eve mistietoe
is diligently sought after, the people
believing it to be possessed of many
mystic qualities. and that II a SlEiS
Of it is attached to h ceiling or the
dwelling house, the horses stall or The
cows crib, the trolls will then be pow
erLess o sinjure either man or beast.
Many German peasants also consider
the m~istletoe a powerful charm against
eyi, spirits. A similar belief seems to
have fingered among the Romans.
When Aeneas descended into Hades
he gathered, to protect himself from
the internal powers, a branch of mis-
tletoe, which Vergil calls h golden
bough.
The custom Of kissing under the mis-
tletoe goes back to the days when
Thor and Odin and an the other gods
of the Noytfiand walked and talked
wEb> men. Baldur, the son of Odin
and Frigga. the Apollo OF. Scandina-
t Wan mythology, the fiaxen-haired god
of sunshine and its attendant bless
ings, was loved by all earthly and
t heavenly beings save One-Loki, thu
, god of earthly fire and its attvndan'
evils.
How of all the things animate ant
Il inanimate in the world, except thu
surly mistletoe, swore never to harm
. the sun god and how Loki slew Baldu'
with a branch of 1t, has been told witt
= beautiful poetic power by Matthew
Arnold.
In Cancellation, hoping to soothe tn
J. passionate sorrow Of the mother, Fris
ga, they dedicated the mistletoe to hei
And now sin and sorrow had haliOwe'
q IT: for h%enceforth it was to grow, no
J as a symbol of bitterness and hatred
but as a sign Of tenderness n low
But the gods decreed that 1t was
II stand for these things only so long o
e II touched not Loki's kingdom, the soil
- and for this reason 1t Is never see
growing on the ground and we ouI
selves always hang it high on the raj
ers or chandeliers. And now that
was the plant of love, the custom arOs
for enemies to become friends undt
VI the mistletoe; for lovers to pleds
"a their troth beneath 1t; and for thos
who met there to kiss as a sign OF q
fecdonate fellowship.