Kissing under the mistletoe this Christmas? According to a custom of Christmas cheer, any two people who meet under a hanging of mistletoe are obliged to kiss. But where did it all start? Shakespeare called it ‘the baleful Mistletoe,’ an allusion to the Scandinavian legend. One theory is that the Norse god Balder, the god of Peace was the best loved of all the gods. His mother Frigga, goddess of love and beauty loved her son so much that she wanted to ensure no harm would come to him. So she went through the world, securing promises from everything that sprang from the four elements - fire, water, air, and earth - that they would not harm her beloved Balder. Leave it to Loki, a sly evil spirit, to find the loophole which was the parisitic mistletoe which does not grow from the earth. It takes seed through bird-dung landing on trees, the birds having ingested the berries (urgh…). Loki made an arrow from its wood and what’s worse, he took the arrow to Hoder, Balder’s brother, who was blind. By guiding Holder’s hand, Loki directed the arrow at Balder’s heart, and he fell dead. Frigga’s tears became the mistletoe’s white berries. There’s a happy ending with Balder being restored to life. Frigga is so grateful that she reverses the reputation of the offending plant - making it a symbol of love and promising to bestow a kiss upon anyone who passes under it. Mistletoe was held in great reverence by the Druids, they thought it a curative for everything from infertility to epilepsy... They believed Mistletoe protected its possessor from all evil. Commonly used as a Christmas decoration, it traditionally remained hung throughout the year, often to preserve the house from lightning or fire, until it was replaced the following Christmas Eve.
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