As Christmas looms we revisit our brilliant Nub News columnist Sparky and his take on the mistletoe

So, read on for Sparky's latest piece, this time on mistletoe...

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In Norse mythology, the goddess Frigga secured a promise from everything that 'sprang from the earth' not to harm her son, Balder.

Unfortunately, the scheming giant Loki found a loophole and had him killed with an arrow made of a golden wood that was 'not of this earth'.

But where could such a plant grow?

Christmas is a magical time but as we know the traditional midwinter feast here in the northern hemisphere probably predates the birth of Jesus by many thousands of years.

It is therefore something of a blessed and fortunate coincidence that the son of God arrived at a time when we were already enthusiastically celebrating the return of the sun after the shortest and darkest days of the year.

That meant that everyone, regardless of belief, could still join-in with gusto and/or piety.

The atmosphere of those pre-Christian celebrations would be familiar to us today: fires, laughter, sharing and kindness, all surrounded by decorations made from the boughs and sprigs of those special evergreen plants.

We may well have a look in more detail at two of the best known of these, holly and ivy, later on, but in the meantime let's focus on the strangest and most magical of them all.

European mistletoe (Viscum album) is a parasitic plant that grows on trees, using its small roots (haustoria) to pierce the bark and tap into their host's supply of sap.

This is not a symbiotic relationship- the tree provides height, safety and food and gains nothing in return- but it is rarely fatal.

I have seen apple trees, a favoured host, thriving in an orchard in Herefordshire's Golden Valley rendered almost unrecognisable by umpteen balls apiece of this opportunistic invader.

Mistletoe's small white berries, poisonous to man, contain just one seed surrounded by an extremely sticky pulp and birds inevitably spend considerable time after eating them cleaning their beaks on the branches of nearby trees: a most effective seed-distribution system.

I have previously tried to grow it myself by smearing the contents of berries on various trees in the back garden, but none took.

However, a couple of years ago I noticed a small green stalk and two tiny leaves appear on the trunk of our own young apple tree.

Mistletoe is a slow-growing species and even now at nearly two years old the stalk of my plant is still only five centimetres long.

Think about this when you look up at those huge specimens high in the treetops, as these are likely to be very old indeed.

The commonest killers of mistletoe are either the death of the host tree, obviously, or over-enthusiastic cropping for Christmas.

The berries of mistletoe are also an important food source for an increasingly uncommon British bird that bares its name: the mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus), which a bird-watching friend of mine can confirm has been seen locally in recent years.

So any potential slight damage to our apple trees might be worth it if we can encourage this little chap back into our gardens.

And who knows, in about ten years I also might be able to hang my own homegrown sprig from my ceiling.

But it isn't just mistletoe's gravity-defying habit that made it an object of wonder to pagan man: like other evergreen plants it has associations with magic, fertility and even sexuality.

The shape of the leaves and position of the twinned berries reminded them of man's sexual organs and that white viscous berry excretion has an obvious human counterpart. I'll leave it there.

The ancient druids venerated mistletoe and harvested it from that holiest of host trees, the oak, using a golden sickle. Great care was taken to ensure that the cuttings never touched the ground to preserve their mystic powers.

The plant was then used in various ceremonies and potions and remains the symbol of many druid organisations around the world to this very day.

But what of the modern 'kissing under the mistletoe' tradition I hear you ask?

Well, theories on the origins of this custom differ. Frigga apparently forgave the plant that killed her son after he had returned to life and it was thereafter considered it a symbol of peace and friendship.

The ancient Greeks appear to have shared this view, making it a fixture at their wedding ceremonies.

Once the links to fertility are thrown into the mix it's no surprise that the Elizabethans then got going with their mistletoe-decorated 'kissing boughs' in the 16th century.

So, although the kissing custom is old, it was further revitalised by those modern reinventors of the traditional Christmas, the Victorians.

And this, together with the more recent singing endorsement of both Shakin' Stevens and Cliff Richards, will no doubt ensure that it is here to stay.

And remember: the mistletoe must be kept above you and after each kiss a berry needs to be removed. Once they have all gone the magic has died and the sprig must be thrown away.

Although this is a tradition that must be upheld, I suggest that we wait until the need to socially distance has passed. Coronavirus is no respecter of ancient customs, it would seem.

What a fascinating plant and now that the trees are bare of leaves there are some good thriving local examples to see: have a look in the woods behind the Vanstone Garden centre for some large specimens and also in the trees in the gardens of St Pauls Walden Bury.

And for some reason the small village of Hexton has more than its fair share: some great examples dangle in the gardens of the manor along the B655 road to Pegsdon and pepper a stand of trees beside the lane to Higham Gobion (see pic).

Despite looking I have seen far fewer examples in Hitchin itself, the best and most accessible being in a small tree on the green in Willoughby Way.

Does anyone know of any other specimens that we can easily see in our town?

And after decades of searching I have still never seen mistletoe growing in an oak tree. But my inner pagan lives in hope.

Happy hunting!

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