Show A A JL I JL 1 5 II T I i fel Wf LV T M Tl Cr W C 1 I J III U 9 1331 1 lil v To most mistletoe means an excuse to steal a kiss at Christmas But that's Just one of many that have been associated with this parasitic according to the current issue of National Wildlife people all over the world have considered mistletoe to be a charm against witchcraft and says the bi-monthly publication of the National Wildlife Mistletoe superstitions pro- came about because ot the unusual and rather eerie way in which the Plant Mistletoe flourishes in clumps on the trunks and branches of various hard- wood where it robs Its host tree of waler and the host tree is so weakened that it But since mistletoe can produce its own food when the parasite re- mains green and Because they were unable to explain how mistletoe ancient believed the plant had super- natural says National Peasants In both England and Japan believed that barren women would be to conceive after eating The of Africa attached mistletoe leaves to their confident that they would then be protected from in- The Swedes carved sword handles from mistletoe branches to ward off while other Europeans wore mistletoe corsages to guarantee a sue- Mistletoe is not a very tasty In although there are more than a thousand varieties throughout the only one animal-the tiny Australian mistletoe bird-relies solely on mistletoe for But medical history reveals that despite its mistletoe was often fed to ailing pa- by physicians who thought it had curative French physicians used mistletoe as an antidote for And one century British physician observed that the plant is for the grief of toothache and the biting of mad dogs and venomous Even as late as the Na- Wildlife many European medical authorities thought mistletoe would cure Since mistletoe at- laches itself so firmly to a tree that It cannot be blown they an epileptic could not fall down If he consumed the plant As it was thought that mistletoe possessed magical it's not sur- that the plant was long forbid- den in Christian It was thought to be tainted with But the Druids-the woodsy priests of the ancient Celts-considered mistletoe to be a warm refuge for the woodland spirits during the cold They gathered and hung the plant throughout their This primeval practice may be the origin of the western tion of decorating homes with greenery at Christmas Centuries on the sixth day of a new a white-robed priest armed with a golden sickle could be seen harvesting The Druids believed the plant was too sacred to be collected by just Traditions of and today anyone willing to venture out into the woods can gather mistletoe with a pair of pruning But some traditions change very lit- A kiss under the mistletoe dates all the way back to Norse which dedicated mistletoe to the God- |