Christmas is a celebration of love symbolized by the Nativity, Santa, reindeer, poinsettia, evergreens and mistletoe. All these things represent the spirit of peace and happiness. Christmas is joy, giving, sharing, laughter, family and friends. But most important, Christmas is love.
A few days ago, a guest of the hotel I manage presented my evening clerk with a small contribution of fresh mistletoe for our lobby. While kissing under the mistletoe has long been considered romantic, I thought I would mark the occasion to revisit the history behind the tradition.
In many cultures, the mistletoe is symbolic of peace, love and goodwill. The modern day practice of kissing under the mistletoe comes from Scandinavian mythology whereby a Norse goddess declared mistletoe a sacred plant to symbolize love ove
r death, which ironically, is what the plant previously represented.
The Scandinavian people then believed that if adversaries happened to pass beneath the hanging plant, they were to lay down their arms and call a truce at least until the next day. Gradually, the custom evolved into the kissing tradition that still continues.
Baldur, the God of vegetation, was the son of the Norse goddess, Frigga. When Baldur was born, Frigga made every single plant, animal and inanimate object pledge to never harm her child. But, somehow the mistletoe plant escaped the attention of the protective goddess. However, Loki, the arch enemy of Baldur took advantage of her oversight and tricked one of the other Gods into killing Baldur with a dart carrying a poisonous mistletoe warhead.
With the death of Baldur, winter and darkness fell upon the mourning world. To remedy the situation, the benevolent Gods restored young Baldur’s life. Reunited with her son, Frigga surprisingly proclaimed the mistletoe to be a sacred plant, charged with bringing love to the world instead of death. From then on, whenever people passed under mistletoe, they celebrated Baldur’s resurrection.
There are several species of mistletoe that grow in various regions of the world. Most mistletoe plants are extremely poisonous if eaten and should be kept out of the reach of small children. Nevertheless, mistletoe is used in some alternative cancer remedies. Long regarded as a “cure all” by the Celtic religion, its medicinal properties long seemed fictitious. However, modern oncology research and chemical analyses have revealed mistletoe’s extremely formidable efficiency in some cancer treatments. According to modern research, it is worthy of note that the ancient use of mistletoe might in some ways have rivaled contemporary medicine. The historic rehabilitation of mistletoe’s image between life and death in some ways reflects its paradoxical position of being both toxic and capable of drastically improving health.
In western civilization, mistletoe is still hung up in farm houses and kitchens during Christmas and young men exercise the privilege of kissing the girls beneath it, each time plucking a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked, the privilege ends. Of course, in recent years, we have conveniently forgotten the part about removing the berries as we get kissed.
When the Christmas lights go dark and the decorations come down, mistletoe fades from our thoughts for yet another year. Particularly in regions where the plant is not native, most people do not realize that mistletoe does not grow on the ground, but rather on trees as a parasitic shrub. Yes, as unromantic as it seems Christmas kisses under the mistletoe simply equates to embracing under a parasite.
“Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” – Dale Evans
Henry Piarrot is the general manager of the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Sevierville Kodak. Please send all story recommendations to hpiarrot@yahoo.com
“History makes you clairvoyant.” – Piarrot
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