Show BENEATH MISTLETOE kissing custom so old no one knows when it started branches with greatest number of berries favored as kiss must be given for each berry plucked according to scandinavian mythology lold the pod god of e evil vil wis was th the e beorn enemy of baldur the lie rod god of I 1 I 1 and tried by every inc ans s in his power to kill hill but bilt fill failed ed ile be couse it lie wits invulnerable to e every tl tiling n that came from the hie earth clr ru ire or water lold loki at lust conceived t the ile idon idea that spring springing ilig front froni neither neit lier would serve ills his purpose aind it having avin at arrow lit made ade from ta the ic wood he hap li lpyd hodi the blind god of dark di irked baldur ft fell 41 dew dead its i lj ts s to alin it and ehrl through the heart all the gods and goddesses prayed proved lor for his restoration to life an when aliv alip prayer was granted it AIs A Is dei treed reed that the mistletoe 10 s should lo I 1 ill I 1 n nevermore have power powei to do harin unless it touched tile the earth und and the alic goddess ot ION love was appointed to guard it some legends claim that tile the goddess ind kissed all who passed under tile the plant as a token cokell that it wa waa no longer longe r i weapon of de death lith but a symbol of love while others assert that slie site ox ex acted ct ed a kiss from each ns as a tan or the bough should be allowed to vork ork harm burnt kiss for each berry the cu custom tom of kissing beneath the in mistletoe istle tool is so old that no one knows ax when lien it originated lat int when young 1 people cople tire ire found selecting the bi blanches aneliese that have the borries berries 0 on n it is fair to suppose that they know a kiss must ae given for each berry plucked and that the ceremony is never complete until every berry is off the branch there avas once a 1 I common though lei ipie taken belief tha the mistletoe grew oi oak trees only but that was so far from true that the druid druies s who held the oak as absolutely sacred because they believed it to represent the one supreme god deemed the mistletoe doubly sacred if found on one and carefully guarded it until the sixth day the first new moon of each 0 5 v car when tills this time arrived priests 1 obed lobed in spotless white surrounded the tree and held solemn ceremonies mong which was the sacrifice of two valte bulls after the ceremonies a priest robed I 1 n spotless white ascended the tree and with a golden knife cut tile the mistletoe and bet it fall onto a white 1 loth held by other priests the branches were then formally and divided among tile the people ho alto believed Pell eved the sprays given them i have miraculous power called all AlI Heal plant the common belief in the effi ency k it the plant was wag such that it was called all heal but according to an old legend a certain lover searched many ma ay iy days for a specimen growing on tin an oak tree that lie might secure its I 1 ranches for the cure of it his Is betrothed who was sick unto death but when he found it lie touched the sap while elAt cutting ting the branc branches heg and fell dond dead near the tree indicating that the sap was a deadly poison another legend accounts for the dyl that the plant is a parasite fly by the tory story that thiet tile the mistletoe nall c grew as a tree tice ind and that the cross on oil which christ was cruel crucified fled was made from mistletoe wood after which it was nas nt accursed cursed anil add condemned to tie never ver more grow ats ns a tree but to exist as a parasite killing evera living thing to te which it became attached the plant thrives in america fro from I 1 n new jersey southward ind and westward 11 ina no those who know now it only ns n a part of je christmas decora decorations tiong can have lieve little idea af 0 C how to j w it over overruns rung trees to the extent extell t of being ft rui nuisance sance |