What's the deal with mistletoe?
Have you ever found yourself in a potentially awkward situation because you didn't notice that mistletoe over your head?
How did that tradition start anyway? Why do we kiss under the mistletoe at Christmas?
According to History.com, the amorous acts associated with mistletoe most likely began with the Celtic Druids of the first century.
"Because mistletoe could blossom even during the frozen winter, the Druids came to view it as a sacred symbol of vivacity, and they administered it to humans and animals alike in the hope of restoring fertility," reads the History.com article titled, "Why do we kiss under the mistletoe?"
However, the Druids were not known to kiss under the mistletoe. That may have come about with the Greeks. Because of the plant's fertility symbolism, ancient Greeks began kissing under the plant during the festival of Saturnalia, according to LiveScience.com. Roman culture, however, viewed mistletoe as a symbol of peace and reconciled their differences beneath it.
Mistletoe's association with both love and peace are also connected to Norse mythology and the story of Baldr the Beautiful. While it is told in a number of ways, most versions focus on Loki, the god of mischief, killing Frigg's son, Baldr (or Baldur), with a spear, dart or arrow made from mistletoe — the only substance that could hurt him.
In some versions, Baldr remains dead but in others he is revived by Frigg (or Frigga), the goddess of love and marriage. With both outcomes, Frigg's tears for her son became the white mistletoe berries.
In the versions of the story where Baldr is revived, it either happens under the mistletoe or through medicinal/magical properties of the berries. Frigg then decides that all who stand under the mistletoe deserve a kiss.
But even in the versions where he dies, Frigg converts mistletoe from the instrument of her son's death to a symbol of peace in his memory.
It's unclear how mistletoe transitioned from its sacred status in various pagan cultures to its association with Christmas decor. However, like other Christmas traditions involving evergreen plants, it could be connected with the practice of co-opting existing traditions to draw pagans into Christianity.
The kissing tradition was revived in Victorian England, first among the servant class before moving on to the middle class. According to History.com, men were allowed to kiss any woman standing under the mistletoe. Ladies who refused might be cursed with bad luck.
Washington Irving mentioned the use of mistletoe as a Christmas decoration in 1820, describing it as being hung to "the imminent peril of all the pretty housemaids." In 1836, Charles Dickens also mentioned the tradition in "The Pickwick Papers."
Because of mistletoe's connection to Norse mythology and Druid traditions, it was often banned from Christmas decor in Christian churches. Yet its popularity grew, as shown in illustrations from Harpers Weekly and the Illustrated London News during the mid-1800s.
In "Decking the Halls: The Folklore and Traditions of Christmas Plants," Linda Allen details the proper etiquette for mistletoe kissing. This tradition instructs that a gentleman should only kiss a lady on the cheek and that one white berry should be plucked from the mistletoe for each kiss.
However, LiveScience.com warns that mistletoe berries can be toxic and cause vomiting or stomach pain. There have even been deaths attributed to drinking too much tea made from mistletoe berries. So don't ingest them.
There are, actually, a few mistletoe varieties. The European species is Viscum album while the one often used for Christmas decor in the United States is Phoradendron leucarpum.
Phoradendron is the kind you might find at a local nursery during the holiday season. Keena Tanner, merchandise manager for Star Nursery in Southern Utah, says all the local locations do carry it around Christmas.
While mistletoe is technically a parasite that lives on other trees, Star Nursery only sells cuttings from the main plant, not the plants themselves. As such, the cuttings are in a dying and drying process and there's no worry of it attaching to a living plant.
Tanner says some families choose to keep the same dried mistletoe and use it year after year.
But even this mistletoe is different from what we might see growing naturally on local trees, says Rick Heflebower, the horticulture agent for Utah State University's Washington County Extension Office.
The type of mistletoe that grows in this region naturally is Arceuthobium, or dwarf mistletoe. Heflebower says it can be found on pinyon pines and ponderosa pines. It's also not as decorative as the type of mistletoe hung during the holidays, instead looking more like a deformed section of the tree, he says.
Dwarf mistletoe can make the tree branches look like a "witch's broom," with many short shoots instead of a single, larger one. It also lacks the white berries of its decorative cousin.
"People probably wouldn't go cut it and put it in their houses for decoration because it doesn't look pretty," Heflebower says.
Of course, if you're kissing someone under the mistletoe, you probably don't care how it looks.
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