"Dung (on a) branch"

 It's that time of year- the Christmas spirit is in the air! Here in Ashland, every time I go outside, I see mistletoe, and thanks to its association with holiday times, I am reminded of the Advent season, and the ever-approaching Christmas day. 


Mistletoe comes from the Old English "Mistle" (dung) and "tan" (branch). Not the origin you would expect from the plant one traditionally kisses beneath! But people used to think that instead of passing through birds as seeds, mistletoe just happened to grow on a branch where a bird sat (and pooped). Mistletoe is also a parasitic plant, and I don't know about you, but when I hear "parasite", I picture some worm-like thing living inside someone, which is not an image I would associate with a holiday. 

The female mistletoe plant produces berries that birds love to eat (though poisonous to us). In a great example of adaptation, the juice inside the berries is very sticky, allowing the seeds to stick to the tree once they've passed through a bird, or when a bird wipes their sticky beak on a branch after eating some mistletoe berries. So the seed sticks, and then begins to grow! 

The white berries of an oak mistletoe

There are many species of mistletoes, all in the order Santalales, with the most common in the US belonging to the genus Phoradendron. As a parasitic plant, mistletoe develops inside the host, which is usually an oak, and then sends out aerial shoots that have pointy, leathery, green leaves. These leaves do contain chlorophyll and do photosynthesis, however, the mistletoe still pulls carbohydrates, water, and mineral nutrients from their host. The hosts can usually survive even a heavy presence of mistletoe for many years, though they will eventually succumb to the mistletoe's parasitism. They are easily recognizable in winter from their spherical shapes growing in the otherwise leafless trees. 

Close-up of mistletoe

Mistletoe from afar

So how did mistletoe become a symbol of love? One belief is that the Vikings associated mistletoe with their god Frigga, the god of love, and so started a tradition of kissing underneath the plant, believing that this would bring love to the kissing couple. And what about the Christmas time part of the tradition? The French believe that mistletoe is poisonous and condemned to a parasitic life because it grew on the tree that was used to build the cross Jesus was crucified on. (The movement of a negative symbol associated with Jesus' crucifixion to love at Christmas is a little unclear to me). 

The proper tradition is for the man to remove one berry for each kiss, and that when no more berries remain on the plant, no more kissing is permitted underneath the plant. Kissing underneath mistletoe should bring good luck to the couple. There is also a tradition of the woman burning a mistletoe sprig; if it burns well, it foretells marital bliss, if not, the woman will have an unhappy marriage. 


I will leave you on a happy note with a quote about Christmas that I found, that reflects some of what I feel around Christmastime.

"What is Christmas?  It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.  It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace."

 ~Agnes M. Pahro