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Mistletoe and Its Lore |
| Section: NATURAL SCIENCE / NATURE WALK |
| Author: Frank Hawksworth |
| Publication: The world & I online |
| Issue Date: 12/1/1987 |
| Size: 1,029 Words, 6,015 Characters |
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Mistletoe is unique in that its folklore and mythology date back to antiquity in many parts of the world. Its reputation as a medicinal and mystic plant has been known for at least 5,000 years. The origins of the plant's lore are obscure; even the derivation of its name appears uncertain. One of the earliest written references to mistletoe appears in one of Aesop's tales from the sixth century B.C. The Greek philosopher Theophrastus described mistletoe's biology, host trees, and dispersal by birds in the fourth century B.C.
Three of the best-known mistletoe legends concern the reverence shown for the plant by the ancient Druids of Gaul; its association in Virgil's Aeneid with the golden bough that helped Aeneas in his descent into ...
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...g the long, gray northern European winters. And, as if added proof were needed of its sacredness, mistletoe's berries matured in the dead of winter, not in the summer or fall, like those of mortal plants.
So when we see the mistletoe prominently displayed in our doorways at Christmastime, we might recall the reverence and mythology of the plant that inspired the ancients over the eons.
(758 of 6,015 characters)
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