| Show gathering of plant sacred rite in religious festivals also considered a potent remedy for ills a belief which still exists in some of the remote places of europe 3 decorate our homes with sprays of mistletoe at christ mas time but few of us know the history of it as a yuletide Yule tlde symbol pretty girls are kissed under it and a great deal ot fun and nonsense is carried on apropos of it but no one stops to think of how ancient a dec oration it Is or how sacred it was once thought to be almost everybody has a vague knowledge that the druies druids of old had something to do with the gathering of mistletoe but just what that some thing was Is not clear to the average mind the tact Is that the ancient belts celts in their had two great festivals one in june and the other in december the litter being equivalent to our christmas in both of these great festivals the gathering of the mistletoe was a sacred rite pliny in his natural history de scribes the ceremony speaking of the druies druids worship of the oak he says they believe that whatever grows on these trees Is sent from heaven and Is a sign that the tree has been chosen by the god himself tho mistletoe la very rarely to be met without when it Is found they gather it with solemn ceremony this they do especially on the sixth day of tho moon because by the sixth day the moon has plenty 0 vigor and has not run halt its course after the preparations have been made tor a and a feast under the tree they hall it as the universal healer and brine to the spot two white bulls whose horns have never been bound before A priest clad in a white robe climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe which li caught in a white cloth then they sacrifice the victims praying that god may make his own gift to prosper with those upon whom he has be stowed it they believe that a potion or pared from mistletoe will e their flocks and that the plant la remedy against all poison it was believed to be a f many ills and this belief is ill t found in many remote places in F rope in Holet eln for example th mistletoe Is regarded as a heald remedy for wounds and in france it Is always administered b the native people as an antidote for poison in the northeast of scotland people used to cut tithes of at th martill full moan these chev bent i circles and kept tor a year to amro tic fevers and other troubles in sora parts of germany the mistletoe la pec lally esteemed a remedy for t ailments of children who wear it bung around abo nack as an amulet in sweden on midsummer Md summer eve mistletoe Is diligently sought after tho people believing it to be possessed ot many mystic qualities and that it a sprig of it Is to the ceiling of the dwelling hoifat the horses stall or the cows crib the trolls will then be powerless to injure either man or beast branches of the plant are corn conly been in farm houses hanging from the ceiling to protect the dwell ings from all harm but especially from fire and persons afflicted with the tall in sickness think they can ward off all attacks of the malady by carrying about with them a knife which has handle of mistletoe like their swedish neighbors many german peasants consider the rolette toe a powerful charm against evil ealr its A similar belief seems to have lingered among the romans whose re algion at a very early date was somewhat similar to that of the druies druids when aeneas descended into hades he gathered to protect himself from the infernal powers a branch of mistletoe which calla tho golden bough |
