Mistletoe
—At what period mistletoe came to be recognised as a Christmas evergreen, is not by any means certain. We have Christmas carols in praise of holly and ivy of even earlier date than the fifteenth century, but allusion to mistletoe can scarcely be found for two centuries later, or before the time of Herrick. Coles, too, in his Knowledge of Plants, 1656, says of mistletoe, “it is carried many miles to set up in houses about Christmas-time, when it is adorned with a white glistening berry.” In the tract, Round about our Coal-Fire, published early in the last century, we are told the rooms were embowered with holly, ivy, cypress, bays, laurel, and mistletoe. Brand (Pop. Antiq., 1849, vol. i. p. 523) thinks that mistletoe was never put in churches among evergreens but by mistake or ignorance; for, says he, it was the heathenish, or profane plant, as having been of such distinction in the pagan rites of druidism, and it had its place therefore assigned it in kitchens, where it was hung in great state.—See Timbs’ Things Not Generally Known, 1856, pp. 159-160.