262 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



The Welsh thought the mistletoe "pure gold," 

 believing that it had a connection with the golden 

 fire of the sun ; and they thought also that the mistle- 

 toe absorbed the life of the oak-tree to which it 

 clung. 



The Church never sanctioned the mistletoe. It 

 never appears, therefore, among the Christmas deco- 

 rations in the churches. No edicts, however, were 

 strong enough to banish it from the decorations of 

 the house, and the mistletoe bough is always a fea- 

 ture in the home where Christmas is celebrated with 

 picturesque traditions. The precise reason for hang- 

 ing up the Mistletoe Bough is lost in antiquity; but 

 it is possible that the particular reasons were because 

 it has supposed miraculous powers of healing sick- 

 ness and averting misfortune, and great potency in 

 promoting fertility and bestowing prosperity. For 

 hundreds of years the mistletoe has been reverenced 

 alike in castle, baronial hall, manor house and farm- 

 house in Shakespeare's country and in the homes of 

 rich and poor in our own country. 



Undoubtedly the idea of kissing under the Mistle- 

 toe Bough was derived from the fact that the plant 

 was dedicated to the Northern goddess of love. The 

 old saying is that the maiden who is not kissed under 

 the mistletoe will not be married within the coming 



