DRUIDS AND MISTLETOE 



There is a modern idea that the story is a myth repre- 

 senting the death of Spring, for a great many similar 

 stories occur in widely distant places. 



However, it seems pretty certain that the plant was a 

 sacred one to the Druids in the time of the Romans. 



Ovid speaks of this in the line, "Ad Viscima Druidae 

 can tare solebant." At their solemn meetings, which were 

 held in remote sacred groves, a Druid clad in white robes 

 cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle. Then, apparently, 

 human sacrifices were offered and a general festival took 

 place. 



Some remnant of this custom seems to have persisted in 

 Herefordshire until recent times, for the tune "Hey derry 

 down, down down derry '' (which means in a circle move we 

 round the oak) is supposed to be a relic of the hymn chanted 

 by the Druids when they had found mistletoe on the oak. 



It was said in the Middle Ages to be a useful cure for 

 apoplexy, madness, and giddiness. That is not at present 

 the general view. Indeed, under present conditions it might 

 conceivably promote the last and even the second of these 

 disorders, though in an agreeable way ! 



The Mistletoe and its allies, Loranthus and Arceutho- 

 bium, grow upon the branches of trees like the orchids and 

 gooseberries already mentioned, but they differ altogether in 

 having a special kind of absorbing root which sinks down 

 into the bark until it reaches the wood of the " host " tree. 

 The sap running up the tree is then tapped by this root, 

 and goes to supply the mistletoe with water and salts in 

 solution. It has, however, its own green leaves. Thrushes 

 eat the berries of the mistletoe ; they will be left upon a 

 branch with the guano ; as the latter dries up, the seed is 

 drawn to the underside of the branch, and sticks in a crack 



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