Mistletoe is the common name for various evergreen parasitic plants of the families Loranthaceae and Viscaceae, especially “European Mistletoe” Viscum album and “American Mistletoe” Phoradendron flavescens, with waxy white berries and smooth-edged oval leaves in pairs along the woody stem.

The species grow on a wide range of trees, and can eventually prove fatal to them where infestation is heavy, though damage more commonly only results in growth reduction.

Mistletoe is spread by birds (especially the Mistle thrush) who eat the berries; the seeds are excreted in their droppings and stick to twigs. The word may be related to German Mist, another word for dung; but Old English mistel was also used for basil.

The leaves and young twigs are the parts used by herbalists, and it is very popular in Europe, especially in Germany, for treating circulatory and respiratory system problems as well as for tumors, even malignant ones.

Mistletoe figured prominently in Norse mythology (whence the modern Western custom of kissing under bunches of it hung as holiday decorations) – the god Baldur was killed with a weapon made of mistletoe – and Celtic mythology and in Druid rituals. It was considered an antidote to poison, but contact with its berries produces a rash like poison ivy rash in people who are sensitive to it (as many are), so the whole plant came to be thought of as poisonous.

Mistletoe has sometimes been nick-named the “vampire plant” because it can probe beneath tree bark to drain water and minerals, enabling it to survive during drought (see vampirism).

Nowadays, mistletoe is commonly used as a Christmas decoration. According to tradition, a person standing under the mistletoe is supposed to receive a kiss. (via Wikipedia)

One of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas, the Christmas tree is normally an evergreen coniferous tree that is brought in the house or used in the open and is decorated with lights and colourful ornaments during the days preceding and immediately following Christmas. Delicate mold-blown and painted colored glass tree ornaments were a specialty of Czech glass factories from the late 19th-century.

This is a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life. In Roman mosaics from Tunisia showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the life-death-rebirth deity Dionysus, the god carries a tapering coniferous tree.

The tradition is most widely observed in the more northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere (north of about 45°N latitude), where Christmas falls at a time when daylight hours are very short, and temperatures often below freezing (0°C) with snow covering the ground. In northern Europe a promise of renewal is essential at a time of death, darkness and cold at the winter solstice. Medieval legends, nevertheless, tended to concentrate more on the miraculous flowering of trees at Christmastime. A bough of flowering Glastonbury thorn is still sent annually for the Queen’s Christmas table.

The Queen’s Christmas tree at Osborne House. The engraving republished in Godey’s Lady’s Book, Philadelphia, December 1850Though houses were dressed at Christmas with evergreen boughs, in northern Europe, the Christmas tree was not customary in the English-speaking world. It was introduced by King George III’s German Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but didn’t spread much beyond the royal family until the royal family Christmasses centered round Prince Albert at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, were illustrated in steel engravings published in English magazines, and copied in the US (illustration, left) for Christmas 1850. Such patriotic prints of the British royal family at Christmas celebrations helped popularize the Christmas tree in Britain and among the anglophile American upper class.

Like many other Christmas traditions, the universally-popular Christmas tree is derived from a fusion of Christian ideas with older pagan traditions. The custom originated in Germany. According to one legend, Saint Boniface attempted to introduce the idea of trinity to the pagan tribes using the Cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance. The tradition of hanging decorations (representing fruit or gifts) on the trees is very old, with some early reports coming from Germany’s upper Rhine region, but the tradition of attaching candles is attributed to Martin Luther. A related tradition was hanging evergreen branches throughout the home. With time, these evergreen branches gave way to garlands, vines and wreaths.

However, the Germanic tribes celebrated the Yule tradition by sacrificing male animals, and slaves, by suspending them on the branches of trees. In Scandinavia the Viking kings sacrificed nine males of each species at the sacred groves. Poor people hanged apples and buns and other small sacrifices on branches. (via Wikipedia)

An enormous number of customs surround Christmas, and vary from country to country. Many aspects, such as the Christmas tree, holly, the Christmas ham, the Yule Log, and the giving of presents were appropriated from the earlier Asatru pagan midwinter holiday of Yule and the traditional celebrations of the Winter solstice, which were very popular in northern Europe long before the arrival of Christianity. (Other major pagan holidays similarly appropriated include Easter and Halloween.) Rather than attempting to suppress these popular feast days, the Christian missionaries simply gave them a new Christian interpretation, while permitting most of the associated customs to continue with little or no modification. A few Christian churches, most notably the Jehovah’s Witnesses and some Puritan groups, thus view Christmas as a pagan holiday not sanctioned by the Bible and do not celebrate it.

In most Western countries, Christmas celebrations have both religious and secular aspects. (via Wikipedia)