Please Have Snow And Mistletoe....

"So now is come our joyful'st feast

Let every man be jolly;

Each room with ivy leaves is drest

And every post with holly...

Vintage Kewpie Christmas Postcard

And while thus inspired we sing,

Let all the streets with echoes ring

Woods and hills and everything

Bear witness we are merry.

The Mistletoe (Viscum album) is one of a family of parasites.

In England it is most abundant on the Apple-tree, more rarely on the Oak.

The berries are eaten by most birds, particularly by the Misselthrush,

to which it give its name.

It is through the agency of the birds that the plant is propagated;

the vicious nature of the fruit causes it to adhere to the birds' beak,

and in the bird's efforts to rid itself of the sticky substance by wiping

its' beak against a tree, the seeds are transferred to the bark.

The Druids held Mistletoe in great reverence. Pliny says they

esteemed it as a gift sent from heaven and held the tree on which 

it was found as sacred. He says they called it "All-heal."

"So Now Is Come Our Joyful'st Feast"

A Christmas Carroll

George Wither

(1588-1667)

English poet

Mistletoe information taken from

"The Nature Notes Of An Edwardian Lady"

(1906)

Edith Holden

(1871-1920)

English art teacher and artist