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 WHY WE KISS UNDER THE MISTLETOE
We may be approaching the 21st century, but we still believe that Mistletoe is the kissing-bough. Apparently, if it was good enough for the Norsemen, it is good enough for us.
Legend has it that Freyja, the Norse version of Venus, goddess of love, arranged to have her son. Balder, the Norse Apollo, protected forever against anything derived from fire, water, air and earth.
But Freyja forgot about mistletoe, a parasitic plant that grows on trees without ever touching the ground, and is therefore not of the earth. Sure enough, a clever but evil foe made an arrow from a branch of mistletoe and felled poor Balder.
With considerable help from the local pantheon, Freyja revived her son. Afterwards, she made the then-remorseful mistletoe promise never to cause harm again, and since that time the plant has become a symbol of peace between enemies and love between friends.
In more recent times, Washington Irving wrote in his Sketch Book of "one berry, one kiss." A man could kiss a woman under the mistletoe if he picked a berry each time he puckered up. Once all the berries were plucked, the kissing stopped. The mistletoe would make a cute Christmas Stocking Stuffers for the one you love Christmas morning.
And if you believe that one, you probably believe in Santa Claus, too.
POINSETTIA: THE AMERICAN CHRISTMAS FLOWER
Most flowers, herbs, and plants used at Christmas are associated with very ancient celebrations. But the poinsettia is an addition of a much later date, the New World's contribution to Select to see a complete listing of our Christmas Decorations Ideas.
In 1825 Joel Roberts Poinsett of South Carolina, a diplomat who was the first American minister to Mexico, became intrigued with the brilliant red "flowers" topping spindly shrubs all over the countryside. The local people called them "flame flowers" or "flowers of the Holy Night" because they were used as decorations in Mexican Nativity processions.
Dr. Poinsett, an enthusiastic botanist, sent cuttings home for his greenhouse and shared them with friends.
About a century later, Paul Ecke of California saw these plants and began to cultivate, interbreed, and experiment with them. Today the Ecke family has a thriving business supplying 5,000 growers around the world with cuttings that produce millions of holiday plants each year—an American success story that has become another Christmas legend.
VERSATILE IVY
Known as a woman's plant (as holly is a man's), ivy is considered a symbol of affection—some say because of its tendency to cling. The Ivy would also make a great Home Decor Gifts for that special someone hosting Christmas dinner. Ivy is also:
• a symbol of renown used by the Greeks to honor poets
• a protection against intoxication-tit crowned Dionysus, god of wine)
• a token of fidelity given to newlyweds through the ages
• a talisman enabling a person to recognize witches
• a cure for the plague.
CRADLE PLANTS
Legend tells us that Joseph gathered heaps of grasses to provide a resting place for Mary, and upon that soft bed Jesus was born. Wild thyme, symbolizing strength and activity, and sweet woodruff, a sign of humility, both gently supported the new mother and child. The white flowers of Our-Lady's-bedstraw turned to brilliant gold and burst open, it is said, when the baby was laid upon them and sweet-smelling sainfoin bloomed to form a Decorative Christmas Wreaths of pink flowers around the Christ Child's head.
Outside the stable, the light that had guided the Wise Men broke up into the masses of tiny flowers we now call star of Bethlehem.
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