The Monticellonian., 1917-12-21

1 to G0 DIidut Iio iifti III. IsN
 erything animate and in-
 animate the animals and
 men and fish and birds, i the water and earth and rocks and trees. the winds and clouds and rain and snow, all agreed never 10 harm Baldur.
 "Go forth and weep no more, daugh. ter" said Wodin to Mamma, mo harm can now come to your husband, my son." and Mamma 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 them, because neither wood nor petal nor anything could harm him. It was great sport for everyone. One day while at this sport an old woman asked Nanna why they were tryirg 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 doT" Mamma laughed scorn- fully.
 The old woman hurried away. Of course It was Loki in disguise. She got twig of mistletoe and hardened 1t by eharring the outside before the fire, fitted the point to lance and hurled 1t at Baldur, whereupon it pierced his heart and he fell dead.
 Dedicated to Love and Affection.
 As peace offering the gods dedi- cated the mistletoe to love and affec- ton and peace just so long as it never touched Lokis territory, the ground. Ever since then the mistletoe has grown without roots, far away from the ground. and even to this day 1t Is used by suspending it above the floor or ground.
 And so it is that both ancient Brit ain and Scandinavia lay their claim te mistletoe customs and the origin of suspending a branch of 1t beneath which youth may kiss. There is little doubt but what the custom was In use thousand years before the origin of SfittSttidN. W HIit tiic StoiS oi tie maidens who lured back to their camps, and to themselves, the young men who were about 70 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 Seandinavians looked for ward to Valhalla IS their heaven, and worshiped the gods Thor and Wodin on Thor's day and Wedin's day (which Is wtere we get OUT Thursday and Wednesday,, they used to have cer- tain great feast days for their gods.
 It became the custom, on observing Thor's day, to build great fires. These were called "Juul" fires. As everyone knows. the Scandinavian "J" is pro- nounced quite like our pronunciation of the letter "Y," consequently those fires were spoken of as "Yule" fires.
 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 1 Thor, the greater pleased was Thor and so it became necessary to pick out the best Of wood te burn.
 Then men would go into the forest looking for "Juul" logs, and they soon learned that the trees upon which much mistletoe elung would give the brightest fires. They did not kneA the reason for this, and belieN ed thai it was due to the work of the great Thor himself who caused the thistle toe to grow on those trees without roots solely as means of letting his people know which trees were besl for burning in his honor.
 And so whenever anyone met under the mistletoe In the great forests. nc they dropped their weapons and greet ed each other kindly, nor would they take up arms against each other unti the sunrise of another day. This wa, their tribute in memory of Thor.
 A Fetish of Good Luck.
 They began to take bits of the mis 1 tletoe into their homes and hang i over the doorways, and if any enemie, came, they could not enter the house: i beneath the mistletoe without becom l ing friends to the people inside so long as they remained there. From thi! came the habit of greeting people wh, l stepped under the mistletoe with al embrace or kiss, and at great indoor feasts the mistletoe was hung up II the room and the people greeted eael other with kisses.
 Later this mistletoe hanging q feasts came to be put in use only Il the Christmas feast and from thu grew the custom of hanging up th'