Mistletoe

Kiss, kiss!

Mistletoe is another sacred plant. Its healing powers were so potent it was called "Allheal". It's actually a rather parasitic thing, because it grows on other trees and depends on its host tree for nourishment... Which could be what led to the thought that it has magical powers. Imagine the dead of winter, all tress except the evergreens are bare, and here's the mistletoe flourishing on something that looks dead! How could something without roots in the earth do so well in winter?!?

Mistletoe on an oak is an especially auspicious find in the Druidic tradition. There are passages from Pliny about how Druids would do nothing ceremonial without oak, and that mistletoe found on oak was the penultimate sacred object. The priests would cut the mistletoe from the oak with a golden sickle in the week following the first new moon after Solstice; they'd then cut the plant into tiny sprigs and divide it among the people. The people would hang the sprigs from their doorways as protection from bad things. Mistletoe came to be a symbol for protection and luck.

I believe those of the Wiccan tradition decorate their house from outside in, and use mistletoe to protect and invite the light into their homes.

I'm not quite so familiar with the Norse tradition of mistletoe, but I think the mother of Balder so loved her son that she travelled the earth, getting promises from everything that sprung from the four elements (earth, air, water and fire) to never harm her son. She forgot (?) about mistletoe. A "baddie" found this loophole and made an arrow of mistletoe, gave it to Balder's blind brother and guided his hand/the arrow to Balder's heart. Balder, of course, fell dead. His mother's tears became the mistletoe's white berries. If the tale has a happy ending (I'm not sure if it ends with Balder's death, or if this next part was an addition to make the fable more palatable), it's that Balder's mother reverses the curse of the plant, making it a symbol of love and a promise of a kiss for whomever passes under it.

The Norse tale might be linked to the powerful reputation of the mistletoe. In the wrong hands, it can be fatally poisonous, especially the berries.

In Scandinavian lore, if two battling factions came upon mistletoe in the forest, they were to call a truce until the next day.

Since it stayed green in winter, even while growing on seemingly dead trees, it was also linked with fertility. Which is interesting, because some ancient traditions hold that the Goddess gives birth to the Oak King at this time of year... Bringing light and growth again. Maybe that's where all the smooching stems from, hmm?

So. Think on this - Solstice in northern Europe, or ancient Britain, at least a thousand years ago - when you hang your plastic mistletoe, or snuggle up under it, this year!