Under the Mistletoe......

Have You Been Kissed Yet?
I love the tradition of mistletoe. I got my first "grown-up" kiss because of mistletoe. I remember selling mistletoe as a class project when I was in 6th grade....I had such a crush on Mark Goddard that I used the mistletoe as an excuse to get my very first kiss! Oh the memories of the innocence and raging "bats" in my stomach. I will fore-go the details of how I went about getting the kiss but lying was involved! We always had a sprig hanging in our house when I was a kid. I always got a kick out of watching my older brother avoiding it like it would sprout tentacles and grab him if he got to close....whata goob! LOL! I will never forget the day I found out that "MISTLETOE" was a parasite and not part of the tree...boy was that an eye opener for me. Ewwww a parasite! My cousin told me all about mistletoe while I was visiting in Texas. We went out on a "mistletoe" gathering expedition. It would grow in HUGE clusters up in the oak trees. My cousin would shimmy up the tree with a small blade and start hacking away while I would gather said "parasite" into bags. Of course we washed ourselves thoroughly after the deed was done cause the white berries are toxic.
From the earliest times mistletoe has been one of the most magical and mysterious plants of folklore. It was considered to bestow life, love and fertility and used as a protection against poison. The mistletoe of the giant oak was especially sacred to the ancient Celtic Druids. On the sixth night of the moon white robed Druid priests would cut the oak mistletoe with a golden sickle to protect its magic. Mistletoe was long regarded as the "soul" of the oak. It was gathered at both mid-summer and winter solstices, and the custom of using mistletoe to decorate houses and spark love at Christmas is a survival of the Druid and other pre-Christian traditions. Now go out there and get kissed! Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas Everyone!