Mistletoe Unveiled

What is mistletoe and why are people kissing under it? The strange tradition unveiled.

What is Mistletoe?

The word mistletoe means ‘dung twig’. In Old English it was called ‘mistletan’, ‘mistel’ meaning ‘dung’ and “tan” for twig. Its seeds are left in trees by bird droppings. The parasitic seeds sprout and the roots penetrate the bark where they steal nutrients from the tree. It grows into a ball like bush up to 3 feet wide causing deformity and impeding the host tree sometimes causing branches to die off. If water availability is low, mistletoe can cause tree mortality. See images below: the mistletoe bushes growing out of a tree, a transverse section of an affected tree, and a seedling growing into a branch.

Tree, Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons, brightened and cropped; Cross section, Yuliya Krasylenko, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped; Seedling, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped

Most mistletoes have white, pink, or red berries and are evergreen so they can be harvested even when the host tree has lost all its leaves. This evergreen trait made it a symbolic plant and got the attention of the druids.

The ancient Druids were the pagan priests, scholars, and judges of the ancient Celtic peoples. They practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism which was documented by Pliny the Elder, Julius Caesar, and other observing historians.

“To murder a man was to do the act of highest devoutness, and to eat his flesh was to secure the highest blessings of health.” Pliny the Elder, Natural History 30.4, Roman Historian regarding Druidic practices

“…figures of vast size, the limbs of which formed of osiers they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the flames. They consider that the sacrifice of peoples guilty of theft, or in robbery, or any other offense, is more acceptable to the immortal gods; but when a supply of such people is wanting, they have the right to even sacrifice the innocent.” Julius Caesar from his documentation of the Gallic Wars, ‘De Bello Gallico’ 6.16

The wicker structures were further explained as being of wood and straw, in the following disturbing excerpt from Strabo.

“I mean the fact that when they depart from the battle they hang the heads of their enemies from the necks of their horses, and, when they have brought them home, nail the spectacle to the entrances of their homes. At any rate, Poseidonius says that he himself saw this spectacle in many places, and that, although at first he loathed it, afterwards, through his familiarity with it, he could bear it calmly. The heads of enemies of high repute, however, they used to embalm in cedar-oil and exhibit to strangers, and they would not deign to give them back even for a ransom of an equal weight of gold. But the Romans put a stop to these customs, as well as to all those connected with the sacrifices and divinations that are opposed to our usages. They used to strike a human being, whom they had devoted to death,​ in the back with a sabre, and then divine from his death-struggle. But they would not sacrifice without the Druids.​ We are told of still other kinds of human sacrifices; for example, they would shoot victims to death with arrows, or impale them in the temples, or, having devised a colossus of straw and wood, throw into the colossus cattle and wild animals of all sorts and human beings, and then make a burnt-offering of the whole thing” Strabo the Greek Historian

Druids believed that mistletoe had magical and medicinal properties and used it in their religious ceremonies.

“Upon this occasion we must not omit to mention the admiration that is lavished upon this plant by the Gauls. The Druids—for that is the name they give to their magicians — held nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree that bears it, supposing always that tree to be the robur. Of itself the robur is selected by them to form whole groves, and they perform none of their religious rites without employing branches of it; so much so, that it is very probable that the priests themselves may have received their name from the Greek name for that tree. In fact, it is the notion with them that everything that grows on it has been sent immediately from heaven, and that the mistletoe upon it is a proof that the tree has been selected by God himself as an object of his especial favour. The mistletoe, however, is but rarely found upon the robur; and when found, is gathered with rites replete with religious awe. This is done more particularly on the fifth day of the moon, the day which is the beginning of their months and years, as also of their ages, which, with them, are but thirty years. This day they select because the moon, though not yet in the middle of her course, has already considerable power and influence; and they call her by a name which signifies, in their language, the all-healing. Having made all due preparation for the sacrifice and a banquet beneath the trees, they bring thither two white bulls, the horns of which are bound then for the first time. Clad in a white robe the priest ascends the tree, and cuts the mistletoe with a golden sickle, which is received by others in a white cloak. They then immolate the victims, offering up their prayers that God will render this gift of his propitious to those to whom he has so granted it. It is the belief with them that the mistletoe, taken in drink, will impart fecundity to all animals that are barren, and that it is an antidote for all poisons.” Pliny the Elder, Roman author of Natural History, Book 16, Chapter 95

The ‘robur’ mentioned is thought to be an oak. The Greek word for oak was ‘drys’. The Old Celtic root words ‘deru’ meaning oak tree and ‘weid’ meaning to see/know, would make ‘Druid’ mean the ‘knower of the oak tree’.

Today there are many Stone Circle remnants of sacrifice which there is no doubt that Druids oversaw. The stone circles are similar to Stonehenge and are usually smaller in scale and are scattered over Britain. They have a circle of vertical stones, some with a long recumbent stone between two of them. The recumbent stone was the altar for sacrifice and you can still see some of the channels for the blood that are carved either into the recumbent stone or on stones set next to it. See images below.

Easter Aquhorthies Recumbent Stone Circle by Elizabeth Angus, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In the centre of the circle was the ‘bonfire’. The word ‘bonfire’ comes from ‘bone fire’. Archaeological digs have found the centre of these Stone Circles to contain charcoal and bone remains.

The Drombeg Circle (also known as the Altar of the Druids) was excavated in 1967. It revealed a packed gravel inner area and a central pit that contained an inverted pottery vessel containing the cremated remains of a child. All manner of religious ceremonies may have been done in the circles including funerals but sacrifice was clearly a large part of Druidic functions.

Jonjobaker, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The vertical stones are sometimes carved with male representations on one side of the altar and female on the other. These associations of religion, fertility, and mistletoe were entrenched in the culture and life of the Celts. There is no doubt that this association was passed down from generation to generation even after the Druids were killed off or forced to practice in secret. Even in present-day, farmers work around the circles due to superstitions passed down through the family.

Mistletoe would have always had associations with fertility, and the tradition of kissing under it seems to have emerged in part from the original hanging of it to drive away evil spirits. This practice was documented by Sir John Colbatch in 1719 who was an English Apothecary and Physician.

“It immediately enter’d into my Mind, that there must be something extraordinary in that uncommon beautiful Plant; that the Almighty had design’d it for farther and more noble Uses, than barely to feed the Thrushes, or to be hung up superstitiously in Houses to drive away evil Spirits, and that the Mistletoe that grew upon other Trees, was capable of being as serviceable to Mankind, as that which grew upon the Oak.” Sir John Colbatch

This idea of it keeping away evil spirits may also have been further influenced by the fact that one of the medicinal uses of Mistletoe was for epilepsy. The Mistletoe powder worked even when other medicines had failed, as witnessed consistently by Colbatch. He specifically called it ‘Mistletoe of the Oak’ and mentioned how its medicinal uses were passed down over the ages.

“The Praises of Mistletoe of the Oak had been proclaim’d for many Ages past, and none else esteem’d or regarded, as to any medicinal virtue.” Sir John Colbatch

He discusses the Druids,

“In reading the scatter’d and imperfect Accounts of the Druids, formerly Priests and Philosophers in this Island, and other neighbouring Countries, who were had in the highest Veneration by People of all Ranks, I conjectur’d that this Veneration in great Measure proceeded from the wonderful Cures they wrought by means of the Mistletoe of the Oak” Sir John Colbatch

So people were well aware, even in 1719, of the past connections of Mistletoe to the Druids. It was in 1784 that we get the first written account of kissing under the Mistletoe in a song. The verse reads,

“What all the men, Jem, John, and Joe, Cry, ‘What good-luck has sent ye?’ And kiss beneath the mistletoe, The girl not turn’d of twenty.” George Colman the Younger in the musical comedy Two to One (1784)

The pressure to accept a kiss from a stranger under a plant with a known association to fertility while it is acting as a pagan amulet hung up to protect from spirits, is certainly a pagan custom through and through. Considering pagan’s propensity for inappropriate sexual religious services, I suspect that this seemingly harmless tradition has disgraceful roots. However, either way this idea comes from a deeply rooted pagan religion that dominated a large part of the world for centuries.

There is no doubt in my mind that God is displeased by engaging in the traditions of false gods, as God has expressed His distaste for such things over and over again throughout the bible. It is certainly an insult to God to indulge in these pagan acts, and it is considered Adultery by God. Adultery is one of the worst crimes in God’s court, and should you insist on participating then you will also receive the sentence.

“When you come into the land which YHWH your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to YHWH, and because of these abominations YHWH your God drives them out from before you.” Deuteronomy 18:9-12

This command stands, as these things angered God on the first day these idolaters began to practice rebellion against Him, and continues to this day with anyone who continues their practices. It hurt Him the first time, and the last time will hurt Him as well. The time span of thousands of years means nothing to an immortal God with a perfect memory, just as what hurt you yesterday still hurts today. We need to stop thinking in terms of our stubborn selfish desires for what we consider ‘fun’ and start thinking about the hurt we are causing by our actions.

We need to think humbly, "Where do these traditions come from?" YHWH is our family. He is our dear and beloved Father whose heart is the very definition of love. When someone hurts Him, it should hurt us too. Therefore, we should desire to cut away any relations to these sources of insult, betrayal, and pain that are present in our Father’s life. We need to open our eyes to what these traditions really are, and not harden our heart to His pain and frustration. Our desire to continue in these ‘fun’ pagan traditions is shameful and callous.

This world is neck deep in idolatry. Once you are willing to put God first before your own desires, you will begin to see just how sinful this world really is. Your actions will tell God whose family you belong to. At the end, only one family will remain. I hope you choose wisely.