Holiday romance movies and pop culture have brought us knowledge upon the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe, starting from Lucy Moderatz and Jack Callaghan's kiss in the '95 big hit romance movie While You Were Sleeping to the famous Harry Potter's first intimate mistletoe kiss with his Ravenclaw crush Cho Chang down the Room of Requirement in the Order of the Phoenix. But little did you know that this tradition of smooching your partner under the leafy plant has long existed before it ever made appearances in movies, series or song references. Do you even know what mistletoe itself and most importantly, what kind of history does this little plant bring to us that makes us all obligated to kiss underneath it?
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that bears white berries and is often found on a range of trees such as willow, apple and oak trees. Hanging mistletoe around the house or doors has become a tradition throughout the holiday season as it is believed to possess mystical powers that could bring luck to the household as well as warding off evil spirits, not to mention that according to Norse mythology mistletoe is also a symbol of love and friendship! There are several schemes on how people treat this mistletoe, some says that whenever you're underneath it, you're obligated to kiss anyone who's near, but some says that you should pick a berry from the sprig of mistletoe before a person could be kissed and when the berries are all gone, the kissing should be put on immediate halt!
There are several folklores associated with this one specific plant that manage to build our beliefs around the history of kissing underneath it. The plant's attachment to this romantic overtones most likely stems from the 1st century A.D where it still blossomed during frozen winter and the Celtic Druids would view it as a symbol of hope to restore fertility and it continued through the Middle Ages. It is indeed still such a big question until now on how it leaped into a holiday decoration that oblige anyone to kiss underneath it from a mere sacred herb. But there was this first appearance of the kissing tradition among servants in England that made it as a hallmark of the tradition's starting point before it spread to the middle classes. In this case, men were free and allowed to steal a kiss from any woman who was caught standing under the mistletoe and refusing the kiss was believed to be bad luck.
Now that you have a handful of enlightenment about the history behind mistletoe kiss, would you let anyone kiss you underneath it to repulse any bad luck, or would you still do it out of traditional formality?
(DIP/HAL)