Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 297, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1911 — The MAGIC of the MISTLETOE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The MAGIC of the MISTLETOE

By GENEVIEVE HAZELRIGG

ID you ever, as you ofliclated as high priest or priestess in the osculatory rites of yuletide, did you ever wonder what tradition, . myth or superstition had conferred upon you such delectable privilege? Did you ever stop, in your ardent ceremonial, to

consider that you were perpetuating one of the most hallowed and exalted of religious ordinances handed down through the ages in rendering such tender homage to this "orphan plant of wondrous birth?” And would it not surprise you to learn that our very word “marry,” .and that our most impassioned of. the graces of Terpsichore—the wait* — are traditionally enmeshed in the canny tendrils of the pearly-berried mistletoe? The mistletoe is a freak plant, a parasite or excrescence. In Its embryonic period it is said to defy the laws of gravitation by pushing its radicles In the opposite direction to the generality of plants. Not only its berries but its leaves grow in clusters of three united on one stock, hence its sacred place in religious rites as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. It was believed by the Druids and other ancient sects in northern and yestern Europe that any tree to which the mißtletoe attaches Itself is selected by God himself for special favor, and that all that grows on it is sent direct from heaven. Contrary to the general belief. It !b found more rarely on the oak tree than on the apple, ash, elm, poplpr, willow and hawthorn, and it is due to this scarcity that it was vested with exceptional reverence when discovered clinging to the sacred tree of the Druids—a name derived from the Greek word drus, or druce, meaning an oak.

Says Pliny: “When it (mistletoe growing upon an oak) is discovered it is treated with great ceremony. They called it by a name (guthil, or gutheyl —good heal), which in their language signifies the curer of all ills.’' After they have well and duly prepared their festival cheer under the tree, they bring hither a milk-white cow and a bullock, hitherto unyoked; then the priests in white vesture climb into the tree and prune off the sacred herb with a gold book, bill or sickle, tbe branches falling beneath into a white sagum sheet. They must never touch the ground. The common people remain at a distance, formed in a circle, while the priests approach with trembling awe the bloody victims, which were carried around the omen fire. After this tbe animals are slaughtered as a sacrifice —doubtless to the goddess of fecundity, for the mistletoe is a symbol of the prolific. In the myths of all nations we find a “holy tree," a “world tretf.” Among tbe Druids, as well as among other creeds, this tree was the oak; and it it a very interesting thing to know that our word church —from kirk — finds its root in quervus, the generic name for the oak. This tree was cherished as the mother and nurse of man, and was supposed to be the dwelling place of the food-dispensing god. Tbe ominous rustling of the leaves and the mysterious notes of the feathered songsters signalized the presence of the divinity to the awestruck votaries who consulted the Indwelling oracle, burning odoriferous fumes in homage. The Dodonean oak and its oracle are selebrated in epic, myth and story, its mystic ritual being zealously perpetuated by the Druids. They danced circular dances in consecrated groves, and the remnants of an old chant still preserved by tbe Celts —Hey Derry Down D6y, “In a circle the oak moves around”— reveals the archtype of onr modern waltz. Another reminder that "the groves

were God’s first temples” is found in the arches and vaulted roofs of Gothic church architecture, revered tokens of the bending arches of intertwined boughs. The Yuletide custom of decking our churches and our homes with boughs, wreaths and garlands finds its antecedence in heathen sanctuaries. The spirit of Christmas is most magnanimously manifested In York, England, where they carry mistletoe boughs to the high altar of the cathedral and proclaim “a public and universal liberty, pardon and freedom to all sorts of Inferior and wicked people.” They suspend it under the chancel arch and bear It to the city gates, toward the four quarters of heaven. In the varied nomenclature of the word “mistletoe,” according to the nationalities concerned, do we discover the magical virtues with which the weird plant 1b invested. Dr. Johnson says the word is derived from mistion, state of being mingled, tod or toe bush. In German it is mistel, mixed, and Saxon tan (Danish tiene, Dutch teene), twig, sprig. In Armorican, Welsh and Irish it is all yach, or its equivalent for all heal; and Pliny calls it omnia sanans, & term of similar import. In upper Germany on Christmas morning they go about knocking on each other’s doors, shouting “Gut hyl,” the synonym for the Druid name. In Brittany it is the herb de la Croix, which heals fevers and gives strength for wrestling. At the time of George I. It was called lignum sancta crucls—wood of the holy cross —so highly were its medicinal properties esteemed. Hung about the neck it renders witches powerless. is used In houses to drive out evil spirits. It is an amulet against poisons, and the inhabitants of Elgin and Moray keep it as charms. Throughout Britannia It had a place assigned to it in every kitchen, and a young man was deemed to have the right to kiss any lassie caught beneath the cherished branch, plucking off a berry - with each kiss. If a maid were not kissed under the mistletoe it was a sign that she would not marry during the ensuing year, a tradition still prevailing. Even Mr. Pickwick availed himself of the pleasant privilege despite his oft-quoted injunction. To dream of mistletoe presages wealth, and in the language of flowers it signifies: I surmount all difficulties. The Cymric, Celtic, Gaelic, Teutonic

and Norse traditions all emphasis* the exorcising, as well as the amatory propensities of the waxen spray. The Scandinavians have it consecrated to Freya, or Freyja—“from whom flows every blessing, the winning smile, the melting kiss.” She is the Venus of the Norse pantheon, the ‘goddess or love, of peace, joy, laughter, fruitfulness, bringing increase “to field and stall,” and also the tutelary deity presiding over nuptials and child birth. A popular myth relates how Baldur, the wisest and noblest of the gods, is a victim of the inveterate hatred of Lokj, the Satan of the Eddas. The demon is bent on the destruction of the pre-eminently good god, so he and his emissaries begin their persecutions by throwing missiles of all descriptions at Baldur, all of which prove harmless, since the deity is under the protection of his mother, Freyja. In desperation Loki, disguised as an old woman', is admitted to the celestial abode of Freyja, who innocently betrays the fact that all things had taken an oath to protect Baldur excepting the mistletoe, which, being a parasite, was too feeble to harm. In secret joy the demon hastens back to Baldur, on the way fashioning an arrow of mistletoe, which soon pierces the heart of the divinity. After a sojourn in Hell —or Hades —the peaceful abode of the dead, the Saviour is restored to life, and on his resurrection he consect-ates the mistletoe to Freyja—all of which enshrouds divine truths in image , and symbol. Astrologically Venus governs the mistletoe, as well as the lips, and all the tender demonstrations of Love, so let us ever propitiate the benignant goddess and — ‘ Hang up Love’s mistletoe over the earth, And let us kiss under it all the year round.”