FROM THE ARCHIVES: PATHOGEN OF LOVE:

Mistletoe has fascinating history besides kissing under it at Christmas time (GREG JOYCE, December 20, 2002, Canadian Press)

"Kissing under mistletoe is not only strictly a tradition of the Western world but it is strictly Anglo-Saxon," he says, adding that the practice only began around the middle of the 18th century.

That tradition doesn't extend to continental Europe, even though that's where most of the mistletoe grows.

It's the "European mistletoe" that has traditionally been associated in Anglo-Saxon countries with kissing.

On the continent, people make use of European mistletoe at Christmas or in the middle of winter but in a different way.

In Germany, where he once spent a year, mistletoe comes on the market well before Christmas and is still on sale in February.

"They use it as something green in middle of winter, and that indicates immortality."

[originally posted: 2002-12-24] Posted by Orrin Judd at December 24, 2009 12:00 AM