Tuesday 15 November 2022

M is for Mistletoe

In the Ogham  Tree Alphabet Mistletoe has no number or letter but instead represents the "day" of  "a year and a day".



The Celtic Lunar calendar had the year as being 13 months of 28 days = 364 days, so to complete the year an extra day was added. This was always December 23rd because the year started and ended on the Winter Solstice, which was counted twice. (Information from the book "Ogham Sketchbook" by Karen Cater and I don't quite get that statement either!)

The Druids believed Mistletoe was too sacred to be given a name or a symbol but they called it "Allheal" due to it's medicinal use. It has always been a magical plant, not of the earth but growing in the meeting place between earth and sky. The Celts considered all these meeting places as sacred  where magic could happen. Dawn and Dusk, Earth and Sea , Gateways and Thresholds.


The Mistletoe

Sitting under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
One last candle burning low,
All the sleepy dancers gone,
Just one candle burning on,
Shadows lurking everywhere:
Some one came, and kissed me there.

Tired I was; my head would go
Nodding under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
No footsteps came, no voice, but only,
Just as I sat there, sleepy, lonely,
Stooped in the still and shadowy air
Lips unseen—and kissed me there.


By Walter De La Mare 1873 - 1956


In early November I saw a poster for a craft fair with free coffee and cakes in a nearby village - (the FREE was the attraction!)  a lady had some small stained glass pieces and I spotted this for the Christmas tree................it looks better with a light behind it.



I've written about Mistletoe before..... HERE . The huge bunches high up in the churchyard of my previous village and the clump I found not far from Clay Cottage and when it was mysteriously cut down. 
It usually grows way out of reach but I spotted some on an old tree a couple of years ago, and stopped to cut a little bit last year but it seemed a strange colour and half dead. I shall look again this year.

Back Tomorrow
Sue


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15 comments:

  1. Joanne Noragon15 November 2022 at 01:13

    I've never seen "live, growing" mistletoe. What a thrill that would be.

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  2. Sharon15 November 2022 at 01:55

    Some great history and lore. I love the illustration at the beginning. Beautiful

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  3. EM Griffith15 November 2022 at 02:21

    Sue, I've been reading your blog for many, many years, just don't often comment. I've enjoyed your November blog posts very much. Your kitchen is lovely; small and very functional. We had mistletoe growing in the branches of a very large tree in the yard of the last house we lived in. Now we have an acre of evergreens. Thank you for this. --Elise

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  4. Ellen D.15 November 2022 at 03:07

    I didn't know mistletoe was a medicinal plant. I have never seen it growing wild. Thanks for the info, Sue!

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  5. Karen15 November 2022 at 04:07

    I've always thought of the winter solstice as my personal New Years Eve. I'm really happy to learn my Celtic ancestors did too!

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  6. Joy15 November 2022 at 06:00

    I do hope you find the mistletoe healthy and well. We have lots of clumps in this area but all very high up and impossible to get at and the shops charge ridiculous amounts so I go without.
    I love the info in this entry - thanks.
    xx

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  7. Cathy15 November 2022 at 07:23

    I didn’t think mistletoe grew in Australia- seems I was wrong. There are 97 species of the plant here, all native (not introduced) to Australia. Thanks for your post today…without it I would never have thought to look it up

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  8. callmemadam15 November 2022 at 08:58

    That's a really pretty ornament. In my last garden there was an old Bramley tree which had a lot of mistletoe on it every year. I never had to buy any!

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  9. acorn hollow15 November 2022 at 10:31

    We are much to cold I have never seen it growing before. I use to work for a florist and it always amazed me the people who would buy fresh mistletoe each year around Christmas.
    Cathy

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  10. Susan15 November 2022 at 13:43

    You are lucky to find mistletoe growing nearby. I can only buy it at the florist. Yesterday, I filled my outside clay pots with greens from my own property. A bit of mistletoe would be nice.

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  11. Debby15 November 2022 at 14:48

    I've never seen it growing either...Thanks for the education.

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  12. Daisy Debs15 November 2022 at 18:46

    I tried to get the seeds to germinate on one of my apple trees..didn't work . I will try again next time I get hold of some .

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  13. Simon Douglas Thompson16 November 2022 at 00:21

    Walter de la Mare kept getting quoted in "Watership Down" - "Master rabbit I saw" and others

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  14. Jackie16 November 2022 at 00:43

    I have never seen it growing. I do hope you find some as I just bet it makes a lovely addition to Christmas decorating.

    God bless.

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  15. Bovey Belle16 November 2022 at 09:30

    There is such a lot of Mistletoe growing in Herefordshire - so many old apple orchards (as well as the recently planted ones). It gets up into some of the non-fruit trees too and can be quite prolific. They have Mistletoe Auctions in Tenbury Wells. We once bought a beautiful Mistletoe Ball in Hay and it hung in the hall well pat Christmas as with lights draped over it, the effect was so beautiful.

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