“Christmas is the day that holds all time together.” — Alexander Smith
Who doesn’t appreciate a warm embracing smooch? Especially this time of year. The pleasure for puckering up is as simple as placing yourself under that sprig of fauna known as mistletoe.
A parasitic plant
Mistletoe is not a single plant but rather a variety of plants, a partial parasite. As a parasitic plant, it grows on branches or trunks of trees. Its root system penetrates into the tree absorbing its nutrients. Mistletoe is capable, however, of growing on its own, producing its own food through photosynthesis.
The two varieties of mistletoe are European varieties. The first, known as Viscum album, is a green shrub with small yellow flowers and sticky white berries, which are considered poisonous. They’re commonly seen on apple trees but rarely oak trees. It is the variety most often imported from Europe to North America.
The other Christmas ornamentation variety, Phoradendron flavescens, is the one with which we’re most familiar. It grows on deciduous trees from New Jersey to Florida. The European mistletoe traditions were assimilated with the similar American plant through immigration and settlement. Sixteenth-century European botanists discerned that the mistletoe plant was spread by seeds passing through the digestive tract of birds. By cleaning their bills on branches, birds scattered the seeds.
A sacred plant
A sacred plant in European folklore, the mistletoe was considered both mysterious and magical – an awarder of life and fertility, from which the obligatory kiss derives. Akin to holly, the winter solstice is the fruit bearing time for mistletoe. The natural belief system of paganism fueled the notion that the solstice and mistletoe’s awakening enhanced reproduction in women and increased sexual prowess in men.
In Scandinavian cultures, especially Norwegian, the plant was often taken into the bedroom in hopes of an outcome of pregnancy. After each kiss, a berry was removed. Once the fruit was plucked, the plant lost its virility.
Mistletoe was considered a “soul” plant in past traditions because it was believed to have robbed the soul of its host tree. This transference of a soul is what gave it the power to encourage lust, love, and fertility. The custom of mistletoe decorations at Christmas derives from Druid and other pre-Christmas traditions. In the Middle Ages, its branches were hung from ceilings to deter evil spirits. In Europe, it was found hanging over a house and stable doors to prevent witch entrance.
Primitive marriage rites were the first association of kissing under the mistletoe since the plant was perceived to have fertility power.
The mistletoe in 18th-century England
Later, 18th-century England had the Christmas kissing a ball of mistletoe brightly garlanded with evergreen ribbons and ornaments. A woman couldn’t be refused a kiss while under the plant. The kiss signified romance, lasting friendship, and goodwill. A woman unfortunately unkissed would not marry the following year.
Such is the long-lived tradition of the mistletoe. So, pucker up to carry on this tradition, in its fun and merry way, as it should.