When reading This post on ’tis the season, a phrase stood out. Not for it’s factual nature as you will see in this quote:
mistletoe (Appox, 13th century Old English for “Like the toe of the missile” in that it looked like the arse-end of a warhead)
It (of course, you should know by now) lead me to curiosity to find out about mistletoe, not just the name but why are we supposed to kiss under it?
Here is what I found:
Firstly mistletoe got it’s name from the 2nd century Anglo-Saxons. Originally called ‘Misteltan’, which is the word ‘tan’ meaning ‘twig’ forcably abutted to the word ‘mistel’, meaning ‘dung’. See they thought that the ‘misteltan’ was caused by birdshit on trees. Of course we know now that it’s the mistletoe seed in the birdshit that causes the growth.
Thats the name sorted out – twig-dung, or dung-on-a-twig, which of course adds even more mystery to the reasoning behind kissing under it.
As with all things from that era, furtility comes into everything somewhere. I’ll come onto that in a moment though, first I’ll explain the Viking reason behind the tradition:
Some guy called Balder had a dream that he was going to die, dreams must’ve been considered a pretty powerful thing in those days because this completely freaked his mum (Frigga) out. So in order to protect him she went to each of the elements – earth, air, fire, water, and all the plants and animals – and asked them not to kill her son.
Apparently a lot of people took the piss out of Balder for running to his mum and threw stuff at him. Not entirely sure where that comes into things but it seems that everyone thought he was immune to harm. So thats good!
To cut a story short (I’m getting bored of typing) mistletoe’s parasitic nature offered a loophole in the protection so Balders arch enemy Loki used it to kill him. The elements tried to resurect him but after three days only white mistletoe berrys would do the trick. So in Viking lore, mistletoe can bring people back from the dead, and Frigga (the mum) kissed everyone who walked under the mistletoe to show her gratitude.
For the Druids of Britain the mistletoe was simply amazing, if they had sliced bread it would undoubtably have been the best thing since. You see they thought mistletoe could perform miracles, anything from fertility (of course, they were druids after all) to healing desease, prtecting against witchcraft and warding off evil spirits. They had a whole ceremony involving picking mistletoe and killing while bulls at solstace time.
Mistletoe would be completely great and amazing and fantastic if it could do any of these things, but it can’t.
Still it’s a good excuse to try and get a kiss at Christmas time. Before I leave you reeling with all this lovely knowledge, I’d best explain proper mistletoe etiquette: After the kiss, the man should pick a berry from the sprig. Where there are no more berrys, there is to be no more kissing!
It is also believed that an unmarried woman NOT kissing under the mistletoe will remain single for another year. A rule probably thought up by men. I do like the fact that it says nothing about marrying the guy you kiss – even more evidence that it’s probably ‘a guy rule’.
Sources:
How stuff works
‘Gardenline’
I think women started this… It would be a woman’s way of expressing her desire to remain single for another year by not kissing under it (ha! in your face MOM!). As for marrying the man you kiss under it – well, it’s really a way for girls to kiss a bunch of boys to see which is the best so we know which to go after – we don’t want to marry the first one we kiss! What if he sucks at kissing? Then where would we be? Really just depends on what school of feminism you ascribe to. 🙂
Well the Pagan idea of marriage could be a union for eternity, or for a year and a day. The latter was a renewable arrangement.
I also have the feeling that at one point marriage only meant ‘to build a house together’ and had few other connotations, although I’ve been unable to find any information (in the last 5 mins) to back that up.
UMMM, according to the WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistletoe, mistletoe doesn’t seem really all that pleasent… being nicknamed the “vampire plant” and all… then having something to do with kissing and marriage?? Questionable stuff!
Crazy traditions and beliefs intertwining together – what does it all mean?
Well I suspect that with a lot of customs and traditions, once you get to the bottom of the what, the why, and the wherefore they rarely make much sense. Or have something to do with ‘fertility’ 😛
Do you think that works with most things? What about lesbianism? It makes sense to some degree and doesn’t have much to do with fertility…
I’m sure that people who know about human behaviour (ie not me) could give many many examples of why almost all human actions are related in some way to the hope of impressing a potential mate. The gender of that mate may well be moot.
On a different note, if lesbianism was a custom, it wouldn’t last for very long….
What about the amazonian women? Or even in ancient greece, arabia, or egypt… some women were dedicated to it their whole lives and as a celebration of the female body.
AH – from mistletoe to lesbianism…
Well you’re chanllenging my knowledge of history there so I think I’ll swiftly move on to the next logical topic…
Sandwiches!
I still haven’t tried a peanut butter and ‘jelly’ sandwich. I really should, even though I find the idea slightly strange.
Whatever – I tried cheese and peanut butter to my upmost dismay! Tit for tat Rob…
Every child in America had the joys of PB & J sandwiches, usually accompanied with an apple and milk.
Yeah well I think you used the wrong kind of cheese. Which leads to: Which is the right kind of ‘Jelly’?
I find that strawberry or grape is typically the best… I’m a fan of raspberry personally but to each his/her own taste.
I’ll try another type of cheese – I think you said mature cheddar… but I’m still a bit hesitant. It was like the time I saw Pete and Daniel play Gay Chicken – actually it is nothing like that, I just wanted to bring it up.
Mistletoe is green in winter. During a short walk around an English country garden it becomes very obvious why it has seasonal significance.
The holly and the ivy when they are both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood the holly wears the crown…
…etc, etc…
Cheese and marmalade go well together, though I have only tried this combination with hard cheese.
I know first hand that misteltoe helps people to get pregnet, more then once look it up in Maria Trebens book on hearbs