Christmas Garlands

Holly soon became a nativity tradition. The Christian ban on mistletoe was in effect throughout the Middle Ages. Even as late as the 20th century, there were churches in England that wouldn't let people wear mistletoe sprigs during services.

Today, most people use holly and evergreen boughs to decorate the house and hang mistletoe over the doorway.

Wassailing

Wassail has been replaced by either eggnog or spiced cider today, but it used to be quite a treat. The word "wassail" comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase "waes hael" (good health). So, "wassailing" means drinking to your good health. The original drink was made out of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and sugar. It was traditionally served from huge bowls on New Years Eve and Twelfth Night, but many wealthy people had Wassail on all 12 days of Christmas!

Wassailing Legend
A beautiful Saxon maiden named Rowena presented Prince Vortigen with a bowl of wine and toasted him with the words "waes hael". Over the centuries, a great deal of ceremony developed around the custom of drinking wassail. The bowl was carried into a room with a great fanfare, a song was sung, and then the hot beverage was served.

The Wassail Song
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we a-wassailing
So fair to be seen.

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you and send you,
A happy New Year,
And God send you,
A happy new year.

Christmas Stockings

Stocking hung by the chimney with care is an American invention first mentioned in the late 1800's. The idea came from illustrator Thomas Nast, through his Christmas drawings in "Harper's Weekly" magazine. They were also mentioned in a story about a visit from Santa Claus written by George Webster.

In other countries, the custom was for children to put their shoes near the fireplace on Chrismtas Eve. In some areas of Canada, stockings were hung at the end of the bed. And the idea of leaving a lump of coal in the stockings of naughty children came from Italy. Most of these customs ended when it became popular for everyone to put their gifts under a Christmas tree. Today, Christmas stockings are mainly a way to decorate the house for the holidays.

Christmas Stocking Legend
There was a kindly nobleman whose wife had died of an illness leaving the nobleman and his three daughters in despair. After losing all his money in useless and bad inventions the family had to move into a peasant's cottage, where the daughters did their own cooking, sewing and cleaning.

When it came time for the daughters to marry, the father became even more depressed as his daughters could not marry without dowries, money and property given to the new husband's family.

One night after the daughters had washed out their clothing they hung their stockings over the fireplace to dry. That night Saint Nicholas, knowing the despair of the father, stopped by the nobleman's house. Looking in the window Saint Nicholas saw that the family had gone to bed. He also noticed the daughters stockings. Inspiration struck Saint Nicholas and he took three small bags of gold from his pouch and threw them one by one down the chimney and they landed in the stockings.

The next morning when the daughters awoke they found their stockings contained enough gold for them to get married. The nobleman was able to see his three daughters marry and he lived a long and happy life.

Yule Logs

While most people have heard of the Yule Log, few people realize that its tradition can be traced back to the days of the pagan Norsemen, or Vikings.

To celebrate their belief in the powers of the gods, the Norsemen held festivals. The father of the Gods was Odin or Thor, commonly called the Yule Father (Yule referred to the sun). The original Yule Log Ceremony was a festival celebrating the sun during the winter solstice, which occurs close to the time we celebrate Christmas today.

Originally, the Yule Log was burned in honor of the gods and to bring good luck in the coming year. The log was usually from one of the largest trees that could be found. It was so massive that to haul it a team of horses or oxen were needed. After the Norman invasion of England in 1066, the Yule Log tradition was passed on to the British and evolved to the tradition that it is today.

After being cut down, the Yule Log was dragged through the streets. The log always came from its owners' land or a neighbor's property, and was never purchased. It was always burned on Christmas Eve, accompanied by music, fun, and games. It was customary that each year a piece of the Yule Log was saved and used to start the fire for the next year's log.

To help kindle the fire, holly was placed under the log. Customarily, guests would toss a sprig of holly into the fire to burn up the troubles of the past year and to keep their houses safe from burning down in the New Year.

Other Anglo-Saxon traditions include celebrating good health in the New Year by drinking from the wine-and-spice-filled Wassail bowl; baking Yule dough into figures shaped like people, with raisins for eyes and noses, to symbolize Christ (these Yule Dough people are where today's gingerbread men came from); burning a Yule Candle, which was big enough to burn for the 12 days of Christmas; and hanging a sprig of mistletoe for fertility and romance.

Presents & Gifts

Most of our important Christmas traditions aren't as old as we often think. Take gift giving for instance. It's hard to imagine Christmas without presents under the tree, but the practice of buying large fancy gifts for Christmas Day didn't really get rolling until the 1860s!

In 1867, Macy's, the major department store in New York City, stayed open until midnight Christmas Eve. Seven years later, in 1874, they were the first to design their window displays around a Christmas theme. That was the start of the gift-giving craze (so if you, like many people, feel that Christmas has become too commercial, now you know who to blame!).

Before Macy's, and their brilliant marketing move, gifts were given, but they weren't as important a part of Christmas as they are now. The tradition goes back all the way to the Three Wise Men, who brought gifts of gold, Frankincense and Myrrh to the infant Jesus.

Mistletoe

Mistletoe was considered sacred by virtue of its occurrence on oak trees (a rare occurrence in Europe), a sacred tree and a symbol of strength and immortality.

The plant was ceremoniously cut with a golden sickle by Celtic priests and caught on a white cloth so as to avoid touching the ground. This ceremony coincided with the winter solstice and thus began the winter celebration.

Mistletoe was also used to welcome the new year and to ward off evil. Mistletoe was hung over a baby's cradle to prevent theft from fairies, and it was believed that mistletoe promoted dreams that unlocked the secrets of immortality.

When hung in the home, mistletoe symbolized purity and strength and promoted happiness, romance and peace. In fact, custom called for enemies meeting beneath the mistletoe to throw down their weapons and embrace.

Mistletoe also was believed to possess medicinal properties. When worn, mistletoe had the extraordinary powers of warding off demons and witches while protecting the wearer from fits, fever, tremors and poison. On top of all that, it was thought to promote fertility. It was even used as a treatment for convulsions and nervous disorders (even though mistletoe is very poisonous!). It also had some use as a vasodilator and sedative until the 1950s. Modern medical research has shown that mistletoe has promise for treating some cancers, hypertension, vertigo, epilepsy, palsy and cardiovascular ailments. Research has also confirmed that it is, in fact, very poisonous, so alternatives were developed and mistletoe--the miracle drug--disappeared.

Because of its association with pagan ceremonies, mistletoe was banned from Christmas ceremonies by the Church.

A common medieval belief held that mistletoe was the wood used to make the crucifix. Cursed, mistletoe was no longer welcome on earth and was doomed to live as a parasite growing on trees. It was not until the 17th century that people became more open about their fondness for mistletoe. Kissing under the mistletoe came about because of the belief that mistletoe's curative powers would cure a broken heart and soothe the differences between quarreling lovers.

Mistletoe is primarily a tropical plant, some growing up to 30 feet tall. The mistletoe of Christmas tradition grows in Europe and Asia, and a dwarf mistletoe, one of the world's smallest vascular plants, can be found in some conifers of Western North America. In Tennessee, only one mistletoe species is common, Phoradendron leucarpum.

Mistletoe is a thief. It's scientific name, Phoradendron means "thief of the tree" in Greek. To understand why, look at the life of American mistletoe. Mistletoe is semiparasitic; that is, while it has green leaves that provide some energy, it meets many of its energy needs by sucking the life blood from its host, usually oaks, elms and poplars.

The roots of the mistletoe never reach the ground. Roots enter the host tree, robbing it of necessary water and minerals. Actually, mistletoe has developed a very specialized tissue with the shape of a bell (called a haustorium). This bell-shaped structure grows into the host tree and combines with the living tree. Mistletoe survives by starving the host tree, sometimes to death. For this reason, mistletoe is sometimes known as "the vampire plant."

In addition to a host tree, mistletoe needs a way to pollinate its flowers and a way to spread its seeds to the branches of trees. While insects pollinate mistletoe, spreading of the seeds is a most interesting process. In Europe, the mistle thrush bird carries the very sticky one-seeded fruits to other host trees. Then, after consuming the berries, it regurgitates the seeds into branch crevices--an excellent place for mistletoe seeds to germinate.

In North America, birds avoid the immature fruits which are bitter, hard and contain poisonous compounds. Instead, they eat and disperse the mature fruits which are still hard to digest. The resulting unharmed seeds take root in the new host tree.

In Australia, mistletoe fruit is winged and is dispersed by the wind. And dwarf mistletoe may have the most interesting means of seed dispersal of all. The fruit seems to be explosive; the sticky seed, shaped like a small missile, may travel up to 60 feet at speeds of up to 80 feet per second before sticking to a new host! In fact, a product called bird lime, a sticky substance smeared on trees to catch birds, is made from the berries of mistletoe.

After the seed lodges in the new host tree branch, it grows into a yellowish-green plant up to three feet long. Its dense leathery oval- to lance-shaped opposite leaves (about two inches long) mask the small pale flowers that appear in compact spikes (male and female flowers are found on different plants). The plants grow slowly and generally survive as long as the host does.

Every year, mistletoe is collected and used as a Christmas ornament, and every year, children and family pets become ill from the poisonous berries. We don't use mistletoe to ward off baby thieves or to promote dreams of immortality anymore. For some reason though, kissing under the mistletoe has survived through the ages; it probably will for a long , long time, too.