- skip - Brewer’s

Kissing under the Mistletoe

.

Balder, the Apollo of Scandinavian mythology, was killed by a mistletoe arrow given to the blind Höder, by Loki, the god of mischief and potentate of our earth. Balder was restored to life, but the mistletoe was placed in future under the care of Friga, and was never again to be an instrument of evil till it touched the earth, the empire of Loki. It is always suspended from ceilings, and when persons of opposite sexes pass under it, they give each other the kiss of peace and love in the full assurance that the epiphyte is no longer an instrument of mischief

A correspondent in Notes and Queries suggests that the Romans dedicated the holly to Saturn, whose festival was in December, and that the early Christians decked their houses with the Saturnian emblems to deceive the Romans and escape persecution.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

Kiss the Mistress (To)
Kiss the Rod (To)
Kiss behind the Garden Gate (A)
Kiss given to a Poet
Kiss the Gunner’s Daughter (To)
Kiss the Place to make it Well
Kissing-comfit
Kissing-crust
Kissing the Hand
Kissing the Pope’s Toe
Kissing under the Mistletoe
Kist-vaen (The)
Kist of Whistles (A)
Kistnerappan
Kit. (Anglo-Saxon, kette, a cist or box [of tools].)
Kit
Kit-cat Club
Kit Cats
Kit’s Coty House
Kitchen
Kitchenmaid (Mrs.)

Linking here:

Mistletoe