eGarden © 2006 Ed Mues

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on December 13, 2006

One Golden Bough with a Twist.

This might be a new Christmas cocktail at one of those trendy after hours clubs, maybe in Livingston Manor (not yet?) or New York's meat packing district. You know, the places where the newest faces in People Magazine gather with celebrities, film producers, models, musicians and superstars from abroad to party the night away. The doorman has the acceptable dress code in his head or at his discretion. And, a Golden Bough w/twist is de rigueur. Then, again, it might not be. And herein lies a twist.

Back in my college days I became acquainted with a book titled "The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion", a pivotal work by Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941), a Scottish anthropologist. Published in 12 volumes between 1890 and 1915, and scandalous in its day, this comparative study of mythology and its intertwining roles in religions, magic, symbolism, cults, fertility and cultural anthropology has had, and continues to have, a large influence on popular culture to this day.

Frazer points out that based on the Greek epics poems the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" attributed to Homer, the great Roman poet, Virgil, wrote the "Aeneid", among many significant poetic works, about the mythical Trojan hero, Aeneas. Written over the years 30-19 B.C., its hero, Aeneas travels safely through the underworld (hell) because he possesses the "golden bough". Persephone, the queen of the underworld, held it sacred.

Theophrastus (371-287 B.C.), a student of Aristotle and often regarded as the "father of botany", described and classified the leafy plant, and years later, Pliny the Elder (23 to 79 A.D.) wrote detailed descriptions of the plant and wrote about the popular beliefs and opinions of the plant in his day.

The plant, the golden bough, is none other than mistletoe. So rich is it in history and folklore that Sir James chose it as the basis for his theory of mythology. He held that myths had their origins in the natural cycle of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.

His study was of a ritual involving a priest who presided over a sacred grove of oak trees in Nemi, Italy; the association of the priest's strength with that of Jupiter; the way in which he was killed (sacrificed) in order to be reborn anew and more vigorous; and finally, the murder weapon: a branch of mistletoe taken from the top of one of the oaks. He believed this theme of dying and being reborn as 'god' or 'priest' was fundamental to every ancient mythology.

Mistletoe is the nickname of a variety of evergreen leafy plants growing on the branches of trees. There are two types of mistletoe for purposes of our Christmas decoration: Viscum album, native to Europe, and Phoradendron serotinum (a.k.a. P. flavencens and P. leucarpum) native to the Americas. They are very similar in appearance. They have oblong leaves that are thick and leathery, yellowish green in color. The stems are smooth and also yellowish and fork freely. Mistletoe has tiny yellow flowers that bloom in May. Plants are dioecious with male and female occurring on different plants. The fruit is a round, smooth skinned, white berry that ripens in December.

Here's a twist. They are all parasitic on higher plants. They derive most of their nutrition from trees, and can manufacture some of their own owing to their evergreen leafy nature. This gives them a competitive advantage over other life forms that depend on the soil for their water and nutrient needs. Their overall yellow color is an indication that they are not full of chlorophyll. Mistletoe has been nicknamed "vampire plant" from time to time because of its ability to penetrate the tree bark and survive, even in drought, on the water and minerals it takes without invitation from its host.

The nickname, mistletoe, has a lot to do with how the plant is propagated. The fruit is eaten by birds and once the seed has passed through the digestive tract, the dropping found on a twig of a tree adheres it quite well until the seed germinates and eventually penetrates into the cortex of the host. The biology is a bit more complex than what I've outlined, but "Mistel" was Anglo Saxon for "dung", as was the German "Mist", and "tan" is the word for "twig". It turns out the berry seeds themselves are very sticky and need not even be eaten, just deposited on a branch by a bird.

Commonly seen on apple trees and more rarely on oaks, the ancient Celts and Germans venerated the mistletoe found growing on oaks and used it in a special ceremony where it was divided and distributed to the people. Hung over a doorway it was protection from thunder, lightning and evil spirits. Once removed from the tree and dried, it turned a golden yellow, a golden bough, held sacred by Druids and Norseman. Mistletoe removed from an oak tree became associated with the emasculation of the old king by his successor. It was believed to possess the soul of the oak.

In folk medicine it was once known as Allheal. Native Americans used it to treat measles and dog bites. It was regarded as a bestower of life and fertility. An emblem of love and peace in ancient Scandinavia, enemies meeting beneath it in a forest called a truce. Beneath a "golden bough" feuding couples would kiss and make up. Sprigs placed in a newborn's cradle protected the infant from faeries and witches. Christmas mistletoe fed to the first cow producing a calf after New Year afforded protection to the whole herd. Mistletoe was harvested at both summer and winter solstices and used to decorate and protect houses, barns, and livestock. As ancient Europeans revered wood, especially oak, a Christmas ritual of burning logs around the time of the solstice gave way to the custom of keeping the Yule log burning through the Christmas eve ending in a celebration the following morning.

At the Greek festival Saturnalia couples kissed beneath mistletoe and it became a part of primitive marriage rituals. Its power conferred fertility, as the dung from which it supposedly sprang was said to have life giving powers. A Norse legend moved it forward as the love of a mother for her son that could not be undone even by an arrow made of mistletoe. The earliest documentation of kissing under the mistletoe during the Christmas season comes to us from 16th century England where it was apparently a very popular custom. In certain quarters of England the Christmas mistletoe was burned on the twelfth night so as to insure that the boys and girls who kissed beneath it would not go unmarried. As with many social mores, an etiquette evolved: when a man kisses a woman under the mistletoe, he should remove a berry. When the last berry was gone, the kissing was to be over. Furtively, more mistletoe appeared.

When I was a youngster, mom and dad and we three children made the rounds during the Christmas season visiting friends' and neighbors' homes and inviting them to visit ours. While sharing in the festivities, if a girl or woman lingered beneath the mistletoe overhead, she was fair game for an innocent kiss from any and all males close by.

We always brought home a fresh tree, some kind of evergreen roping, holly branches, and always a sprig of mistletoe. So, join me with your golden bough with a twist and toast the mistletoe, and wish it a long and continuous life in its endearing tradition.

Wishing you all a joyful Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on December 13, 2006

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