Traditions and Trivia: Mistletoe

Kissing someone under the mistletoe is a popular Christmas tradition in pop culture. There is always a funny moment in a movie where unlikely characters are forced to kiss out of some sort of commitment to tradition.

However did that come into play?

Who’s idea was it to hang a piece of plant over a doorway and make everyone kiss if they stood underneath it?

While they didn’t kiss under the mistletoe, the Druids highly regarded the plant. They went through great lengths to ceremoniously gather the plant and give it places of honor.

A potential origin for the kissing aspect of the tradition comes from Norse Mythology.

In Norse Mythology Frigga gathered promises from all living creatures except the mistletoe that they would not harm her son Baldur, the god of peace.

So of course he was shot with an arrow of mistletoe.

According to livescience.com “Frigga revived her son under the mistletoe tree and decreed that anyone who stands under the mistletoe tree deserves not only protection from death, but also a kiss.”

The tradition continued in Victorian era England, where a maiden who refused a kiss while under mistletoe was expected to end up an old maid.

An important note about the plant is that it was widely used for medicinal purposes despite the berries being mildly poisonous and that ingesting too much will cause death.