Under the Mistletoe at Christmas

“Oh, ho, the mistletoe, Hung where you can see…” With these lyrics, Burl Ives immortalized the symbol of the mistletoe in popular culture with the song “Holly, Jolly Christmas.” However, when one looks at the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe seems somewhat curiously removed from other Christmas traditions and this is why looking at the origins of the Mistletoe tradition can be enlightening. 

While everyone is familiar with the origin of Christmas and its relationship to the birth of Christ, very few people are familiar with the origins of a number of the traditions and decorations associated with Christmas. If you look at a number of the items and symbols commonly associated with Christmas you will notice that they are not found at all in the Christian tradition or any where in the bible. So where did they come from? Many times, symbols and items associated with Christmas may have had their origins outside the Judeo-Christian tradition, but found their way into the tradition as Christianity began to spread into non-Christian regions some of the benign winter traditions of these other cultures were absorbed into the Christian Christmas tradition.  The mistletoe, for example, is one such Christmas symbol whose origins are somewhat removed from the Christmas tradition and origins. 

For one, the Mistletoe and its connection to “kissing” derives originally from the ancient druid belief that the Mistletoe was a symbol of fertility which was later appropriated by the ancient Greeks where the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe first started during the festival of Saturn. Many years later, if Scandinavia the mistletoe dropped its connection to fertility and began to symbolize peace with one’s enemies – that is, it became of symbol of “kiss and make up” Later, in the England of the 1700’s the tradition of a woman not being able to refuse a friendly kiss is she was caught under the mistletoe originated. Now, how could a young girl get caught under the mistletoe? Well, during the Christmas season it was common to decorate a doorway with Mistletoe. (Placing a mistletoe on a doorway was actually started by the Romans and with the influx of Christians into the early Roman empire it is believed this is how Mistletoe found its way into Christian tradition) and, in time, this tradition became associated with Christmas as it became a symbol of whimsical good will as the ancient pagan fertility origins had become long since forgotten.