Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Boga bom Here. Hanging mistletoe over a
Speaker 1: doorway during the end of year holiday season is a
Speaker 1: tradition from northern Europe that's spread around the world. But
Speaker 1: have you ever stopped think about the story behind it?
Speaker 1: Where did this come from? Why would we kiss someone
Speaker 1: just because we're standing underneath some particular shrubbery. The word
Speaker 1: mistletoe is derived from the Anglo Saxon words missile meaning dung,
Speaker 1: and ten meaning twig. It's thought that the plant is
Speaker 1: named for bird droppings on branches, which is precisely how
Speaker 1: mistletoe grows. Birds eat the berries, then sometimes poop the
Speaker 1: seeds onto the branches of trees where the plant lives.
Speaker 1: Mistletoe is a hemi parasitic plant that grows on tree branches,
Speaker 1: often of hardwoods like oak or apple. As mistletoe grows
Speaker 1: on a branch, it uses its roots to invade the bark,
Speaker 1: which allows mistletoe to absorb water and nutrients from the tree.
Speaker 1: It's called hemi parasitic because it doesn't get all of
Speaker 1: its nutrients this way. It can also photosynthesize energy from
Speaker 1: the sun with its green leaves. Sometimes mistletoe might harm
Speaker 1: a tree or cause deformities in its branches, but it
Speaker 1: usually doesn't kill its host, because, after all, if the
Speaker 1: host tree dies, the mistletoe dies. Also, it's not uncommon
Speaker 1: for one missiletoe plant to grow right on top of
Speaker 1: another one. If that happens. Researchers from the University of
Speaker 1: California Riverside found that the plants may share the tree
Speaker 1: by relying more on photosynthesis for food to lessen the
Speaker 1: harm caused to their host. Aside from pooping, birds also
Speaker 1: help spread missletoe seeds by eating the fruit of the berries,
Speaker 1: which are sticky with juice, then wiping their beaks on
Speaker 1: a tree's bark to clean off those sticky seeds. The
Speaker 1: stickiness helps the seeds stay in the tree rather than
Speaker 1: falling to the ground. Within six weeks, the mistletoe plant
Speaker 1: begins growing, although it takes several years to flower and
Speaker 1: produce berries of its own. There may have been a
Speaker 1: bit of confusion historically about the plant springing from birds
Speaker 1: themselves rather than from seeds that the birds had spread.
Speaker 1: There are a number of plants around the world that
Speaker 1: fit into this category and are commonly called mistletoe, but
Speaker 1: a few species from two genera are associated with Christmas
Speaker 1: and related holidays, Phorodendron and viscom They both have smooth, small,
Speaker 1: evergreen leaves and bear small, round berries that are either
Speaker 1: waxy white or bright red in color. And during winters
Speaker 1: and areas of the northern Hemisphere with deciduous forests where
Speaker 1: trees lose their leaves until spring, the mistletoe is easy
Speaker 1: to spot because its leaves stay green all year long.
Speaker 1: But aside from this basic fact, how did this plant
Speaker 1: sink its roots into Christmas? The holiday has assimilated a
Speaker 1: wide range of customs and traditions from many cultures, and
Speaker 1: mistletoe is one of them. Lots of myths around mistletoe.
Speaker 1: For example, north Smith's dating back to the eighth century,
Speaker 1: said that mistletoe had the power to raise people from
Speaker 1: the dead, relating to the resurrection of Boulder, the god
Speaker 1: of the summer sun. To sum up this legend, Boulder's mother,
Speaker 1: the goddess Frigga, didn't want him to die, so she
Speaker 1: went to all the elements and plants and animals to
Speaker 1: ask that they never harm him. But she forgot to
Speaker 1: ask the simple mistletoe or perhaps having no trunk of
Speaker 1: its own, it couldn't be asked at any rate. The
Speaker 1: trickster Loki clocked this loophole, and Boulder ended up dead.
Speaker 1: The tears that Frigga cried landed on the mistletoe and
Speaker 1: became its berries, and Boulder was brought back. She declared
Speaker 1: it a grand plant and kissed everyone who walked underneath
Speaker 1: that out of gratitude for getting her son back. Another
Speaker 1: myth in mistletoe's past comes from what's now the British Isles.
Speaker 1: In the first century, Celtic people's associated mistletoe with miracles,
Speaker 1: from increased fertility to curing diseases to protection from witchcraft
Speaker 1: in the ceremony after the new moon following the winter solstice,
Speaker 1: and druids would cut mistletoe from oak trees, using the
Speaker 1: white cloth catch it to avoid letting it touch the ground,
Speaker 1: which is still considered unlucky by some. Spriggs were distributed
Speaker 1: for wearing or hanging in doorways to bring people good fortune.
Speaker 1: The origin of the tradition of kissing under missiletobe is vague.
Speaker 1: It may have to do with that story of Friga
Speaker 1: and Boulder, but also ancient Greeks considered mistletobe and naphrodisiac.
Speaker 1: Associations of the plant with fertility persisted around Europe through
Speaker 1: the Middle Ages, at least perhaps because of the color
Speaker 1: and consistency of the juice of those white berries. Mistletoe
Speaker 1: may have also been associated with the Roman winter festivals,
Speaker 1: saturnalia and so yeah, just lots of ties to winter
Speaker 1: celebrations and love or lust. Historically, before our modern missletoe
Speaker 1: practices in England, young women may have been encouraged to
Speaker 1: place a sprig of the plant under their pillow at night,
Speaker 1: like a kid would place a tooth for the tooth fairy,
Speaker 1: but instead of getting money, the mistletoe would supposedly bring
Speaker 1: a dream about the woman's future beloved, and burning a
Speaker 1: missletoe plant not under one's pillow was also thought for
Speaker 1: tell a woman's marital bliss or black thereof a missletoe
Speaker 1: that burned steadily prophesied a healthy marriage, while fickle flames
Speaker 1: may have meant an ill suited partnership. A modern missletoe
Speaker 1: etiquette does vary and can seem a little pushy to me,
Speaker 1: like do whatever you want, no matter what shrubbery is
Speaker 1: over your head, But supposedly Anyone who kisses under mistletoe
Speaker 1: will have good luck in should remove one berry when
Speaker 1: they plant that kiss. When all the berries are gone
Speaker 1: from that sprig, the plant's store of luck is up.
Speaker 1: A mistletoe has also symbolized peace. Ancient Norse tails say
Speaker 1: that enemies who encountered each other under trees bearing mistletoe
Speaker 1: would lay down their arms, embrace each other, and agree
Speaker 1: to a truce until the next day. This bit of
Speaker 1: goodwill might have also helped prompt modern practices. Meanwhile, in
Speaker 1: the tradition of using mistletoe medicinally, extracts from the plant
Speaker 1: are commonly used as complementary or alternative medicines in Europe
Speaker 1: for conditions like cancer, but the FDA has not yet
Speaker 1: approved them for use in the US. If you do
Speaker 1: have real mistletoe hanging in your home this season, note
Speaker 1: that European varieties are fairly toxic to humans and some pets.
Speaker 1: American varieties are less so, but since you may not
Speaker 1: be sure which kind you're standing under, it's best practice
Speaker 1: to call poison control or of trinarian if anyone does
Speaker 1: eat any missletoe, and keep it in places where pets
Speaker 1: and children won't be able to get to it just
Speaker 1: in case. Today's episode is based on the article how
Speaker 1: Missletoe Works on how stuff Works dot Com, written by
Speaker 1: Barbara Zazinski and Sam Abramson. Brain Stuff is production off
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,
Speaker 1: and it is produced by Tyler Clang. The four more
Speaker 1: podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
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