by Edward Ellis, Special Correspondent
“The custom of kissing under the mistletoe we get from Scandinavian myth,” the New Berne Daily Journal reported on December 25, 1890. To end an otherworldly war over it, mistletoe was given to a kindly goddess “and everyone passing under it received a kiss to show that it was an emblem of love, not death.”
Mistletoe, a common parasite of the woodlands, was all the rage in the winter holidays of the 1800s. Even up to recent times, women or girls passing under it were obliged to accept a kiss from any man or boy in the vicinity. Refusing the kiss was said to bring bad luck.
The tough little deep green sprig with the pearly white berries has fallen on hard times of late because of its toxic attributes. Eating the plant can cause some nasty, even deadly, reactions – especially among children and small animals.
Not so long ago, however, fresh sprigs of mistletoe decorated with red ribbon were for sale at most local checkout counters and elsewhere during the Christmas season. Many doorways were adorned with it offering the lucky a chance to smooch. And it was a profit center. In the 1890s, “some 700 tons of the charming white berried plants” was exported annually from France, according to the local newspaper.
Little needed importing into Craven County. The kissing plant grows in abundance on our lowland hardwood trees. Chilly but determined men went to the forest annually to harvest mistletoe by spinning large sticks in the branches thus breaking it loose. And more than one yahoo has used a firearm to make some fall.
But how does mistletoe come to be on the tree? In the winter season, when food is a little scarce, birds eat the mistletoe’s berries. Some of the sticky berries inevitably hold to the bird’s beak. When annoyed enough, the bird will wipe its beak clean on whatever tree it is next upon.
Today, lucky lovers both young and old still make do with imitation mistletoe of the plastic kind.