Why do We Kiss Under the Mistletoe?
Like most ubiquitous, strange traditions kissing underneath the mistletoe has a surprisingly gruesome background. Although a few different cultures compete for the origin story of why people started kissing underneath the mistletoe, my favorite comes from Norse mythology.
The legend goes that one day, Frigg, goddess of motherhood and wife of Odin, cast a powerful magic spell to ensure that no plant grown from earth could ever harm her precious son, Baldur. However, because mistletoe grows from a tree and not out of the earth, it is an exception. Loki, figuring this out, creates a spear made out of mistletoe that kills Baldur. While the story would seem to end there, a sunny retelling of the myth depicts Frigg apologizing to the mistletoe for disregarding it and reviving her son underneath of it. Then, she declares mistletoe a plant of love and vows to kiss all those who pass beneath it.
However, it doesn’t seem that kissing under the mistletoe entered vogue Victorian England, where it was said that if a girl refused a kiss underneath the mistletoe she would spend the coming year as a single woman and even end up an old maid. If you do agree to kiss someone under the mistletoe, you must pluck a berry out of the gathering after each kiss and when there are no more berries, you had to stop kissing.
All that being said, mistletoe is poisonous - if you eat the berries it will make you vomit and cause stomach pain.
The blog image comes from a vintage holiday card.
