Why the mistletoe tradition is not very Irish

MISTLETOE is as closely associated with Christmas as holly and the Christmas tree.

But it’s a mysterious plant and it’s not clear how or where this connection began.

Firstly it’s not an Irish native plant, although, strangely enough, there is an Irish word for it, “drualas”, that seems to be fairly ancient. This may date back to the early days of Christianity when, because of the activities of Irish missionary monks, the language was spoken beyond our shores.

It does grow in Ireland but it’s rare. There are only about a dozen known sites in this country and some are in old gardens. In Victorian times there was a fashion for trying to grow mistletoe, which is difficult but not impossible, and the Irish plants are probably a legacy of this.

It’s what botanists call a “hemi-parasite”. While it’s a parasite of trees, it’s not a full parasite because its leathery, dark green leaves can photosynthesise, so it can produce some of its own food. It’s an evergreen and the white berries ripen in midwinter but it almost always grows on deciduous trees like oak, apple and, sometimes, lime.

If you want to look for mistletoe you should do so in winter, when the host tree has dropped its leaves. It looks like an untidy magpie’s nest but, unlike a nest, it will be covered in green leaves and, possibly, the familiar white berries. Mistletoes are like hollies –- only the female plants carry the berries, which are mildly poisonous to humans.

The name is probably of Germanic origin –- “mist” meaning dung and “tang” meaning a branch. This is biologically accurate as the sticky seeds are propagated in bird droppings that stick to tree branches. However, some bird species eat the berries without swallowing the seeds and then wipe these off their beaks on a branch. The mistle thrush is named after the mistletoe and is one of those bird species that eats the whole berry. It tends to void its droppings in flight so as a spreader of seed it’s a bit hit and miss.

Although mistletoe has magic or ceremonial associations in many cultures, nowadays its association with Christmas is largely confined to the English-speaking world. Roman commentators noted it was regarded as very powerful by the druids in Gaul or Celtic France.

It seems likely the association with Christmas does have a Celtic pagan origin. At the winter solstice, when the days started to lengthen and the world was reborn, all evergreen plants that had refused to bow to the tyranny of the winter, were held in special veneration.

But it seems that the connection with kissing comes to us from Viking sources. Mistletoe is the special plant of Frigga, the goddess of fertility in Old Norse mythology. It’s a long and rather complicated story but Frigga’s son, Baldr, who was the god of vegetation, was killed by a dart made from mistletoe and then miraculously brought back to life. Frigga was so pleased she decreed that henceforth the plant would be associated with love rather than death.

Incidentally, the correct etiquette for kissing under a bunch of mistletoe has largely been forgotten. The boy must pick a berry off the bunch every time he kisses the girl. When all the berries have gone his kissing rights end and he either has to go off and find more mistletoe or come up with some other strategy.

* [e-mail]