The Romance 
of the Mistletoe 
J. W. CHAMBERLIN 
The European or true 
Mistletoe has long 
leaves and grows as a 
true parasite on many 
trees, but notably the 
apple. It is largely im- 
ported from Normandy 
forest. One of the 
best of these leg- 
ends is that of 
B a 1 d u r , son of 
Wodin, in the days 
when those strange 
gods are said to 
have walked and 
talked with the mortals 
on earth, as did Jupiter 
and Apollo and Diana 
and Latonia and the 
other gods and goddesses of 
Olympus. 
Baldur was the Scandin- 
avian god of sunshine and 
summer and was naturally 
beloved by all except Loki, 
the god of hearth fires. For, while 
the people rushed out of doors to 
see Baldur when he brought the 
summer sun, they had no use for 
Loki until the next winter; con- 
sequently Loki disliked Baldur. 
Nanna, goddess of the blossoms 
and wife of Baldur, dreamed ter- 
rible dreams of the death of Baldur, 
and she went to the great god 
Wodin, her father-in-law, and told 
him and he was greatly troubled. 
But messengers were sent forth throughout 
the world and had everything swear to do 
Baldur no harm. Everything animate and in- 
animate, the animals and men and fish and 
birds, the water and earth and rocks and trees, 
the winds and clouds and rain and snow, all 
agreed never to harm Baldur. 
“Go forth and weep no more, daughter,” 
said Wodin to Nanna. “No harm can now 
come to your husband, my son.” .And Nanna 
went forth happy. 
After that all the gods used to amuse 
themselves hurling stones and a.xes and spears 
at Baldur and he stood and laughed at them, 
because neither wood nor metal nor anything 
could harm him. It was great sport for everv 
one. One day, while at this sport, an old 
woman asked Nanna why they were trying to 
kill Baldur. 
“Everything has promised never to harm 
him,” she explained. 
“Everything?” queried the old woman. 
“Except the .Mistletoe. What can that 
little shrub do?” Nanna laughed 
scornfully. 
The old woman hurried away. Of 
course it was Loki in disguise. She 
got a twig of .Mistletoe and hardened 
it by charring the outside before the 
fire, fitted the point to a lance and 
hurled it at Baldur; whereupon it 
pierced his heart and he fell dead. 
As a peace offering the gods 
dedicated the Mistletoe to love 
and affection and peace just as 
long as it never touched Loki’s 
territory, the ground. Ever 
since then the Mistletoe has 
grown without roots, far 
away from the ground, and 
even to this day it is used by 
suspending it above the 
floor or ground. 
When those brave and ro- 
mantic Scandinavians looked 
forward to Valhalla as their heaven, and 
worshipped the gods Thor and Wodin on 
Thor’s day and Wodin’s Day (which is where 
we get our Wednesday and Thursday), they 
used to have certain great feast days for their 
gods. 
It became the custom, on observing Thor’s 
day, to build great fires. These were called 
“Juul” fires. As every one knows, the 
Scandinavian “J” is pronounced quite like 
our pronounciation of the letter conse- 
quently “Juul” fires became “Yule” fires. 
The brighter the fires, the higher the flames 
towered through the forests where the Scandi- 
navians used to gather to pay honor to the 
great god Thor, the greater pleased was Thor, 
and so it became necessary to pick out the 
best of wood to burn. 
1 he men would go into the forest looking 
for “Juul” logs, and they soon learned that 
the trees upon which much Mistletoe clung 
would give the brightest fires. They did not 
know the reason for this, and believed that it 
was due to the work of the great 1 hor himself 
who caused the Mistletoe to grow without roots 
on those trees solely as a means of letting 
his people know which trees were best for 
burning in his honor. 
And so, whenever any one met under the 
Mistletoe in the great forests, no matter how 
great enemies they were, they dropped their 
weapons and greeted each other kindly, nor 
would they take up arms against each other 
until the sunrise of another day. This w^as 
their tribute in memory of lbor. 
They began to take bits of the Mistletoe 
into their homes and hang it over the doorways, 
and if any enemies came, they could not enter 
the houses beneath the Mistletoe without 
becoming friends to the people Inside so long 
as they remained there. From this came the 
habit of greeting people who stepped under 
the Mistletoe with an embrace or a kiss. 
S candinavians claim that Mistle- 
toe customs originated with them, 
but there is an English legend anti- 
dating those of Scandinavia which 
tells how the girls of semi-barbaric Britain, 
in that golden age of the Druids, used to hang 
up boughs of Mistletoe to lure young men into 
their embraces! 
According to this legend Chelm, an ancient 
Druid high priest, had a great temple in the 
forest where he taught young men to become 
priests. So popular did this temple become 
that half the young men of the countryside 
were leaving their homes and people, and 
becoming Druid priests. 
There was great need of the young men in 
the camps to hunt and fish and to plant and, 
above all, there were so many more maidens 
than young men left that they decided some- 
thing must be done to reclaim them. I hey 
sought an ancient witch and asked her help. 
“Pick yonder Mistletoe that grows without 
roots upon the trees, go to the edge of the 
forest round about the tree temple of Chelm, 
and hang it there all around and about the 
forest. Stand in waiting there, well hidden, 
until the young men, coming forth from the 
forest each night to bring food to the temple, 
are under the Mistletoe, then step forth. 
They will clasp you and kiss you, whereupon 
do you scream right lustily and the young 
men shall be yours.” 
The maidens followed this advice and hung 
the Mistletoe in festoons about the edge of the 
forest. Then, standing under it, the young 
men felt impelled to kiss the maidens who 
stepped forth to greet them. The maidens, 
as instructed, screamed lustily and Chelm and 
other of the old Druid priests rushed forth, 
fearing their young men were being murdered. 
When the good old Druids saw the young men 
embracing the maidens they drove them away, 
for they would have no one among them who 
had aught to do with women. 
And so, through the peculiar influence of the 
.Vlistletoe, the maidens won back the young 
men; but the custom of hanging up Mistletoe 
was kept up and later, after the birth of Christ 
and the introduction of Christianity, the 
custom was added to the Christmas festivities. 
Erom Scandinavian mythology comes the 
weird but interesting story of the origin of 
Mistletoe, that pale-berried parasite of the 
The American proto- 
type of the Mistletoe 
is distinguished by the 
broader, almost round 
leaf and lighter color 
173 
