Mistletoe. 
3 11 
the earth, it was considered as ominous of some dreadful mis¬ 
fortune threatening the nation. The practice of decorating 
dwellings and places of worship with holly and mistletoe is 
undoubtedly of Druidic origin. Dr. Chandler states that in 
the times of the Druids the houses were decked with boughs, 
in order that the sylvan spirits might repair thither, and remain 
unnipped by frost and cold winds, until a milder season had 
renewed the foliage of their darling abodes. 
Amongst the various valuable qualities which the Druids 
ascribed to “ all-heal,” as they termed the mistletoe, was that 
of being an infallible antidote to-all poisons and a cure for 
all diseases. Its magical properties are alluded to by Virgil, 
Ovid, and other writers of antiquity ; and even in the present 
day, in some secluded places, it is regarded with superstitious 
reverence. In Holstein the country people call the mistletoe 
“ the spectre’s wand,” from the supposition that holding a 
branch of it will not only enable a man to see ghosts, but force 
them to speak to him. 
In Scandinavian mythology this bush plays a far from 
unimportant part. In the “ Edda” it is recorded that Balder, 
the Scandinavian counterpart of Apollo, was charmed by his 
mother Friga against all injury from everything which sprang 
from the so-called four elements, fire, air, earth, and water; but 
Loke, the evil spirit, having an enmity against him, formed an 
arrow out of mistletoe, which grew from none of these things, 
and placed it in the hand of the blind Helder. The sightless 
deity launched the fatal dart at the seeming invulnerable Balder, 
and struck him to the ground. By a combined effort of the 
gods, Balder was afterwards restored to life; and, as a repara¬ 
tion for his injury, the mistletoe was dedicated to his mother 
Friga, the Scandinavian equivalent for Venus. The plant was 
placed entirely under her control, so as to prevent its being again 
used against her as an instrument of mischief. From the fact 
of its having been under the protection of this deity, arose, it 
is presumed, the custom of kissing under it at Christmas. In 
the days of chivalry it still continued to receive many honours: 
it was gathered with great solemnity on Christmas-eve, and 
suspended from the ceiling of the great hall, where, with much 
noisy rejoicing, were “ the girls all kiss’d beneath the sacred 
bush.” In those jolly times 
