JANUARY. 47 



these words : Tlie new year is at hand, gather the 

 mistletoe I The sacrifices being ready, the priest 

 ascended the oak, and with a golden hook cut the 

 mistletoe, which was received in a white garment 

 spread for that purpose. Two white bulls that had 

 never been yoked were then brought forth and ofiered 

 to the- Deity, with prayers that he would prosper 

 those to whom, he had given so precious a boon."* 



It was, however, only the mistletoe of the oak that 

 received this idolatrous veneration ; and hence, as in 

 the present day, the mistletoe appears most commonly 

 upon the apple-tree, and hardly ever upon the oak, a 

 suspicion has arisen that there must be some mistake 

 in the matter. A gentleman, who has published 

 several ingenious theories, once proposed the hypo- 

 thesis to me that in. the lapse of years a misnomer 

 had arisen, and that in fact our apple-tree was the oak 

 of the Druids ! I believe he was at last fairly laughed 

 out of the position he had proposed to take up ; but 

 if he had not been, the matter is put to rest by 

 DAYIES, who, in the " Celtic Researches" says that the 

 apple-tree was considered by the Druids the next 

 sacred tree to the oak, and that orchards of it were 

 planted by them in the vicinity of their groves of oak. 

 This by-the-bye was a sly trick on their parts, as they 

 thus, no doubt, made a nursery for the mistletoes 

 among the apple-trees, and thus offered a very fair 

 chance of getting it easily transplanted to their sacred 

 oaks. Professor BTJE^ET says, that the curious basket 

 of garlands with which " Jack-in-the- Green ' is oc- 



* JONES'S Bardic Relics. The new year of the Druids did not, however, 

 correspond with ours. TOLAND says that the druidical new year's day 

 was the 10th of March, " which was the day of seeking, cutting, and 

 consecrating the wonder-working all-heal." TOLAND, Hist. Druids, 108, 



