Mother's Herbs Garden

Image Gallery

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Lately, more and more people hove begun to understand just how limited — in both variety and nutritional value — our "modern" diets have become. This realization has sparked a new and widespread interest in the culinary and therapeutic uses of herbs . . . those plants which — although not well-known today — were, just one short generation ago, honored "guests" on the dinner tables and in the medicine chests of our grandparents' homes. In this regular feature, MOTHER examines the availability, cultivation, and benefits of our "forgotten" vegetable foods and remedies . . . and — we hope — helps prevent the loss of still another bit of ancestral lore.

At this time of the year, it's easy — in many parts of North America — to spot bright green balls of mistletoe lurking high among the bare branches of deciduous trees. You may well know that the parasitic plant's tendency to turn its limbs toward its host caused the ancients to see it as a protective, visible god. But have you wondered why a pause beneath this berry-bedecked holiday bough traditionally demands a kiss?

Well, when Shakespeare spoke of "the baleful mistletoe", he was alluding to the old Norse legend of how Balder, the god of peace, was stain by an arrow made from the plant. Other gods, however, restored the popular deity to life . . , put mistletoe under the auspices of Freya, the goddess of love . . . and ordained that whoever passed under it should receive a kiss to show that the plant had ceased to be an emblem of hate.

The fact that this "law" is valid only during the yuletide dates back to Celtic times, when — at the beginning of the year and during a particular phase of the moon — white-robed druids, led by visions, separated mistletoe growth from a sacred oak tree with a golden knife.

Mistletoe was also supposedly the same "golden bough" that, in Greek mythology, unlocked the door of Hades for Aeneas and the Sibyl to enter. And — during the Middle Ages and later — its branches were often hung from ceilings to ward off malevolent spirits. The plant was excluded from churches, however, probably because of a Breton legend which held that mistletoe was once a tree and that Christ's cross was made from its wood . . . after which the herbe de la croix was reduced to a parasite.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print