A Druid Peace to You!

Since my magical Malcolms claim to be descendants of Druids, my contribution to our holiday tributes is about the pagan origins of our many traditions. As Jo Bourne told us the original December 25 date comes from the Roman solstice celebrations dating as far back as the fourth century BC. The Roman calendar and ours do not line up, hence the difference in our solstice date and theirs. What matters is that the date was well established centuries before the nativity. Since Jesus was said to have been born during a census, then his birth could very well have been some time in December. The Bible doesn’t list an exact date, so we can also assume the church simply adopted a festive date already established and Christianized it, as they did others.

The Romans used evergreens as symbols of the “return of life” as the days got longer. They hung apples on those trees as part of the celebration because who doesn’t want life and pretties in the dark of winter? But the part that interests me, naturally, is mistletoe. The Druids considered it a powerful healing symbol, cut from their sacred oaks, they’d meet (and possibly greet?) in peace under the mistletoe. So a wish for peace on the Christian holiday adopts this pagan symbol.

So the reason for the season is the birth of a new year, new life, and peace to all. Celebrate all your traditions in the interest of a better new year!

Comments

[Kareni]

Patricia, I'll join you in a wish for a peaceful (and healthy) new year to all!

[Linnea Priest]

When I was in Vienna late one winter, I noticed giant globs of something in many of the bare trees. I asked a local what it was. Mistletoe!!!!

[Constance]

Growing up in the southern US, it was common to see mistletoe high up in many of the deciduous trees. It was also very common for young men (and very grown men) to use shotguns as well as air rifles to shoot the mistletoe down from the trees. The problem with this, of course, is that by the time the mistletoe hit the ground most of the berries had been knocked off. I doubt many of them knew about the Druid past of their holiday “fun”! Thanks for the interesting post, Patricia! And safe New Year’s Eve air kisses to all!

[Karin]

I love the custom of hanging mistletoe, but I don't think I've ever seen any!
Happy New Year to everyone!

[Sue McCormick]

It's been a weird few days; BUT I thought I had posted an additional wish for peace and good health. It doesn't show up on this feed. And I did just refresh the feed with a total computer restart.

Any how, I DO wish everyone a peaceful, healthy new year.

[Mary M.]

Greetings to all Wenches and wenchlets, thank you all for making this community sing, and may 2021 be less "interesting" and more fulfilling for everyone around the globe. Happy writing and reading to all!

[Patricia Rice]

In KY, they hung in walnut trees, which were a little easier to access. But the shotguns usually came out anyway.

[Patricia Rice]

oh, that's a shame! We even have it here in SoCal. It's a parasitic plant that usually grows far up in the top of certain types of trees. I've not studied which trees though. We used to find bunches of mistletoe in the stores, but I think it's considered poisonous these days.

[Patricia Rice]

Thank you, Sue, and to you, too. I haven't had time to hunt around in spam to see if Typepad ate your message.

[Patricia Rice]

And thank you for listening to us sing even when we sound like old crows upon occasion.

[Teresa Broderick]

I enjoy learning about all the old traditions from the posts here. Unfortunately, as I write we're heading into level five lock down from midnight tomorrow night (New Year's Eve here). Our numbers are soaring so we are going to be in the exact same position as we were last March. Oh well we'll just have to get on with it I guess. Nothing else to be done. At least I have my books and blogs like this to keep me going because it's very disheartening to be going backwards.
Happy New Year to all!!

[Patricia Rice]

sigh, its a depressing way to start a new year, but it would be even more depressing in the hospital. Buy your champagne and happy horns and shout in the safety of your own home!