(no subject)
Happy December, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, everyone in between and on the outside. As you've probably noticed, this month has brought back that holiday camp tradition of mistletoe. Which, naturally, ain't your daddy's mistletoe, and let me tell you, it ain't your mother's either, and I would know.
Mistletoe has a long history in terrestrial European tradition. It was considered a bestower of life and fertility, a protection against poison and an aphrodisiac. The Druids were really into it. On the sixth night of the moon, white-robed Druid priests would cut the oak mistletoe with a golden sickle. Later, the ritual of cutting the mistletoe from the oak came to symbolize the emasculation of the old King by his successor. Aaaaanyhow, it was gathered at both mid-summer and winter solstices, and the custom of using mistletoe to decorate houses at Christmas is actually a survivor of the Druid and other pre-Christian traditions.
As for kissing under the mistletoe, that was first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia and later with primitive marriage rites. In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace, under which enemies could declare a truce or warring spouses kiss and make-up. Later, the eighteenth-century English are credited with creating the tradition of the kissing ball, where a young lady standing under a ball of mistletoe during the Christmas season couldn't refuse to be kissed.
This being camp, the deal is that anyone too close to the mistletoe can't get away without getting kissed. And I mean anyone. And I mean can't.
So just remember: it's natural, it happens to everyone, and there's no need to get so upset and uptight about it all. I mean, it's cute and all, how easily confused and embarrassed people still get in the twenty-first century, but there's really no cause for stress and strife. It's just a kiss.
Also, if you're still needing a practical demonstration about its effects, I'll be right over here.
((no mistletoe unless you indicate it! Captain Jack is always happy for kissing antics, of course
ETA @ 10:40pm EST: CAPTAIN JACK SIGNING OFF FOR THE NIGHT. I'll be picking up both old and new threads over the next few days. Thanks, guys!))
Mistletoe has a long history in terrestrial European tradition. It was considered a bestower of life and fertility, a protection against poison and an aphrodisiac. The Druids were really into it. On the sixth night of the moon, white-robed Druid priests would cut the oak mistletoe with a golden sickle. Later, the ritual of cutting the mistletoe from the oak came to symbolize the emasculation of the old King by his successor. Aaaaanyhow, it was gathered at both mid-summer and winter solstices, and the custom of using mistletoe to decorate houses at Christmas is actually a survivor of the Druid and other pre-Christian traditions.
As for kissing under the mistletoe, that was first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia and later with primitive marriage rites. In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace, under which enemies could declare a truce or warring spouses kiss and make-up. Later, the eighteenth-century English are credited with creating the tradition of the kissing ball, where a young lady standing under a ball of mistletoe during the Christmas season couldn't refuse to be kissed.
This being camp, the deal is that anyone too close to the mistletoe can't get away without getting kissed. And I mean anyone. And I mean can't.
So just remember: it's natural, it happens to everyone, and there's no need to get so upset and uptight about it all. I mean, it's cute and all, how easily confused and embarrassed people still get in the twenty-first century, but there's really no cause for stress and strife. It's just a kiss.
Also, if you're still needing a practical demonstration about its effects, I'll be right over here.
((no mistletoe unless you indicate it! Captain Jack is always happy for kissing antics, of course
ETA @ 10:40pm EST: CAPTAIN JACK SIGNING OFF FOR THE NIGHT. I'll be picking up both old and new threads over the next few days. Thanks, guys!))