Kissing under the mistletoe is a light-hearted part of many Christmas holiday celebrations, with some people looking forward to kisses and some folks zealously avoiding being caught under the mistletoe and kissed.

The people of England were the first to adopt the mistletoe as a Christmas decoration in their homes. In the early days a kiss under the mistletoe signified a lover’s pledge, or a forecast of happiness and good luck. A young woman who was not kissed under the mistletoe would not marry the next year, and today the tradition is that a girl standing under this plant can not refuse a kiss.

Charles Dickens included a scene with a kiss under mistletoe in it, in A Christmas Carol, which he wrote in 1843. It was at this time that English Christians adopted this plant as a Christian symbol.

Using mistletoe is simplicity itself; just hang a sprig over a doorway everyone walks through, or a chandelier, and let the kissing and hilarity begin. One tradition says that each time a man kisses a woman under the mistletoe, he must pick one berry from the sprig, and when the berries are gone, the kissing must end, or, it is time to hang a fresh bunch of mistletoe. Each berry picked may be given to the girl who receives the kiss.

The mistletoe is a parasitic plant which grows in the tops of trees, and it was noticed long ago in England and Scandinavia, as thriving and being green even in the midst of bitter winters. In this way it became associated with Jesus, and his offer of eternal life to believers.

An old rhyme says

The mistletoe bough at our Christmas board
Shall hang, to the honor of Christ the Lord:
For He is the evergreen tree of Life.

American mistletoe, which is the kind we usually use in Christmas decorations in the United States, is one of 1,300 species worldwide. You don’t want to plant mistletoe in your garden since it definitely harms the trees it grows on. Mistletoe is part of healthy forests, but not wanted in our gardens.

Copyright © by Terra Hangen