How did it begin anyway? Who started this Christmas tradition anyway? Does anyone know? I for one didn’t, so I did some investigating. Kissing under the mistletoe, so romantic and so many people hang that mistletoe faithfully every year. It seems to be it is a magical and mysticial plant…
But, here’s a not so romantic thought! Mistletoe is labeled under the botantical classification as “partial parasite“. Yuck, no that doesn’t sound very nice does it? No romance found in the word “parasite” is there? The berries found on mistletoe are poisionous…I am sure others knew this. Oh my goodness, this is sounding not so good. I am not trying to bash the heart warming tradition, honest I’m not! Dave and I hung plenty of mistletoe around our house every Christmas, same as I’m sure all of you do.
To lighten up the not so nice parasite thing and all, one story goes like this. Legend has it that mistletoe was hung in farmhouses and kitchens at Christmas. The young men had the privelege of kissing the young girls under said mistletoe. Each kiss, they had to pluck a berry, when the berries were gone the privelege of kissing stopped! Well, go figure and wonder just how many berries were on that bunch of mistletoe? Makes you wonder and ponder, doesn’t it? Thankfully it’s modern times and nobody has to follow any rules..Anything goes!
Happily hang that mistletoe and kiss as long as you want and keep that fine tradition going! After all, what happens under the mistletoe stays under the mistletoe! 😉 🙂
What an interesting post, Twinnie. I didn’t know about the parasite thing either, yuck for real 😉 I agree, keep that mistletoe hanging around 🙂 TF ❤ = Twins Forever
The parasite thing is awfully strange, isn’t it? It was fun and interesting checking out the mistletoe tradition though! 🙂 TF <3=Twins Forever
I really liked this post. I didn’t know any of this mistletoe information. Thanks for making me more aware of this tradition. I would like to state that in my home..”We don’t need mistletoe!” xxxx
Thanks again for the Kreativ Blog Award nomination. I accept, but it will take me sometime to write my acceptance post. And in return I would like to nominate you twinnies for the 7X7 link award. Check out my blog for the stipulations! Merry Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho!
I am glad you enjoyed this post, interesting information we learn. You made me laugh about not needing mistletoe in your house! 🙂 Lori, you are so welcome about the Kreativ award. You know Autumn and I love your posts so much and you very much deserve it. You had me stunned speechless for a minute (I am never speechless for long!) about the 7X7 link award, thank you so much Lori for nominating us twinnies! We will be over to your blog to check the details for the stipulations, Wow you are like Santa’s helper! Merry Christmas to you and your family, too! 🙂
Very interesting, I never heard that story before!
I had to look this up, I was curious how the tradition started, too! 🙂
I didn’t know where mistletoe originated from either or any of the information. Wow, from romance to parasite! What a lovely transformation! 🙂 We don’t need it, either, (smile) but we do hang it, as it’s one of the fun traditions of Christmas! Thanks for sharing, Gabby! This was great!
I know from the romance to parasite was a weird thing to discover! It’s fun checking some of these things out, I had to share. I had a feeling you didn’t need mistletoe at your house, but it’s nice to keep up the tradition Lauren! 🙂
kiss
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