O' Mistletoe

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

 

Some fun info on Mistletoe. Enjoy! Michelle

 

 

Mistletoe is also known as the golden bough. Held sacred by both the

Celtic Druids and the Norseman.

 

Once called Allheal, used in folk medicine to cure many ills. North

American Indians used it for toothache, measles and dog bites. Today

the plant is still used medicinally, though only in skilled

hands...it's a powerful plant.

 

It was also the plant of peace in Scandinavian antiquity. If enemies

met by chance beneath it in a forest, they laid down their arms and

maintained a truce until the next day.

 

Mistletoe was used by the Druid priesthood in a very special ceremony

held around this time...five days after the New Moon following winter

solstice, to be precise. The Druid priests would cut mistletoe from a

holy oak tree with a golden sickle. The branches had to be caught

before they touched the ground.

 

Celts believed this parasitic plant held the soul of the host tree.

 

The priest then divided the branches into many sprigs and distributed

them to the people, who hung them over doorways as protection against

thunder, lightning and other evils. The folklore, and the magical

powers of this plant, blossomed over the centuries A sprig placed in

a baby's cradle would protect the child from faeries. Giving a sprig

to the first cow calving after New Year would protect the entire

herd. And so forth.

 

Although many sources say that kissing under the mistletoe is a

purely English custom, there's another, more charming explanation for

its origin that extends back into Norse mythology. It's the story of

a loving, if overprotective, mother.

 

The Norse god Balder was the best loved of all the gods. His mother

was Frigga, goddess of love and beauty. She loved her son so much

that she wanted to make sure no harm would come to him. So she went

through the world, securing promises from everything that sprang from

the four elements--fire, water, air, and earth--that they would not

harm her beloved Balder.

 

Leave it to Loki, a sly, evil spirit, to find the loophole. The

loophole was mistletoe. He made an arrow from its wood. To make the

prank even nastier, he took the arrow to Hoder, Balder's brother, who

was blind. Guiding Holder's hand, Loki directed the arrow at Balder's

heart, and he fell dead.

 

Frigga's tears became the mistletoe's white berries. In the version

of the story with a happy ending, Balder is restored to life, and

Frigga is so grateful that she reverses the reputation of the

offending plant--making it a symbol of love and promising to bestow a

kiss upon anyone who passes under it.

[Guest guest]

About Mistletoe...if my Oklahoma history in gradeschool (lived there in 3rd

and 4th grade)serves me correctly, it is also the State Flower. Leave it to

the Okies to have a paracite as a state flower,<G>. I say that in humor, as

I also used to tell it to my dear mother, who was an Okie!

Anita