Five days to go, a mere work week before homes are bustling
with relatives and everyone’s worried whether the feast will come off, if uncle
Hershel is going to be a dweeb, and if mom will like her gift. Take a deep
breath, my friends, we’re heading for the plunge!
On this sixth day I give to you mistletoe, evergreen in the
boughs of the winter-bare trees and a sign of life, fertility, and rebirth. Mistletoe
didn’t become popular as a Christmas decoration until the 18th century. According
to custom, it must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal as
the last of Christmas greens at Candlemas. Mistletoe can remain hanging through
the year as a charm against lightning or fire, until it is replaced the
following Christmas Eve.
Ancient Christmas custom holds that a man and woman who meet
under a hanging of mistletoe were obliged to kiss. This custom was described in
1820 by Washington Irving in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon:
"The mistletoe
is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens at Christmas, and the young men
have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry
from the bush. When the berries are all plucked the privilege ceases."
So pluck a berry or not, but spend a little time under the
mistletoe with the one you love and enjoy a quiet moment before the yuletide hubbub
descends. You’ll be thankful later!
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