Chrysti The Wordsmith: Mistle Toe

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith stand under a sprig of mistletoe during the holidays and sooner or later you're likely to get kissed. The origin of this tradition reaches back to a pre-Christian Norse myth about the death and resurrection of Balder the God of Love and Light. When the evil trickster loci struck Balder with a dart made of mistletoe would the gentle love God perished on the spot Balders mother Frieda grieving deeply beg the gods for his resurrection when he was miraculously restored to life. Frigga declared that the mistletoe would forever be a symbol of peace promising a kiss and an embrace to all who passed beneath it. Mistletoe was revered by the Druids who gathered the plant to burn it in religious rituals. It was also prescribed for female infertility and even as an antidote for poison pre-Christian Romans decorated their homes with garlands of mistletoe during their winter solstice feasts mistletoe is a quasi parasitic plant that frequently grows on Poplar oak apple and Hawthorn trees. In Europe it

enjoys a symbiotic relationship with the missel thrush a bird that eats the plants white berries mistletoe grows directly out of the thrushes droppings which contained adjusted seeds. Hence the Germanic word mistletoe meaning dong on a twig. Christi the wordsmith has recorded and produced in the studios of fam on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman. Happy holidays. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.