I am finally feeling a little bit better and went out for a
short time this morning just to get out of the house. With it being so close to
Christmas (hard to believe in 14 days), a little themed post seems appropriate.
I had noticed in one particular area, that mistletoe was beginning on several
trees in that area. Curious as most of the time you see bunches high in the
tree where this was only head high.
The custom of kissing
under the mistletoe was described in 1820 by American author Washington Irving
in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. “The mistletoe is still hung up in
farm-houses and kitchens at Christmas, and the young men have the privilege of
kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked the
privilege ceases.”
In Old English, mistiltan, current day mistletoe, is of possible German origins
from Mist for dung and Tang for branch. Mistletoe is generally spread by birds eating
and excreting the seeds then sprouting on the host tree from which it absorbs
nutrients. The North American variety, Phoradendron flavescens is native and
grows in trees from New Jersey to Florida.
There is much legend,
lore and history associated with mistletoe in many countries.
