Editing Mistletoe (section)

== Cultural importance ==
{{see also|Viscum album#Culture, folklore and mythology}}
[[File:Adrien Barrère14.jpg|thumb|left|''The Mistletoe Seller'' by [[Adrien Barrère]]]]
Mistletoe is relevant to several cultures. [[Pagan]] cultures regarded the white berries as symbols of [[male fertility]], with the seeds resembling [[semen]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mistletoe-the-evolution-of-a-christmas-tradition-10814188/|title = Mistletoe: The Evolution of a Christmas Tradition |journal = Smithsonian|volume = Dec. 21, 2011|access-date = 9 October 2018}}</ref> The [[Celts]], particularly, saw mistletoe as the semen of [[Taranis]], while the [[Ancient Greeks]] referred to mistletoe as "oak sperm".<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://symboldictionary.net/?p=1590|title = The Golden Bough: Mistletoe History and Lore|access-date = 9 October 2018|website = The Symbol Dictionary|archive-date = 9 October 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181009211429/http://symboldictionary.net/?p=1590|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title = Medicine and psychiatry in Western culture: Ancient Greek myths and modern prejudices|journal = Annals of General Psychiatry | volume = 8|pages = 21|author = Michele Fornaro, Nicoletta Clementi and Pantaleo Fornaro|doi = 10.1186/1744-859X-8-21|pmc = 2762970|year = 2009|pmid = 19811642 |doi-access = free }}</ref> Also in Roman mythology, mistletoe was used by the hero [[Aeneas]] to reach the underworld.<ref name="Woodland Trust">{{Cite web|url=https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/mistletoe/|title=Mistletoe (Viscum album) - British Plants}}</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/how-to-grow/in-pictures-the-history-of-mistletoe/mistletoe2/ The Telegraph - The History of Mistletoe]</ref>

Mistletoe may have played an important role in [[Druid|Druidic mythology]] in the [[Ritual of oak and mistletoe|Ritual of Oak and Mistletoe]], although the only ancient writer to mention the use of mistletoe in this ceremony was Pliny. Evidence taken from bog bodies makes the Celtic use of mistletoe seem medicinal rather than ritual.<ref>Williams, Anarchy. ''Did the ancient Celts practice human sacrifice?'' Diss. University of Wales, Trinity St David, 2014, p.55</ref> It is possible that mistletoe was originally associated with human sacrifice and only became associated with the white bull after the Romans banned human sacrifices.<ref>Kandela, Peter. "Mistletoe". ''The Lancet'' 358.9299 (2001): 2186.</ref>

The [[Roman Empire|Romans]] associated mistletoe with peace, love, and understanding and hung it over doorways to protect the household.<ref name="BBC News">Bethan Bell (10 December 2013). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-24987280 "Tenbury Wells: Centuries-old romance with mistletoe"]. ''BBC News''. Accessed 2 April 2021.</ref>

In the advent of the Christian era, mistletoe in the Western world became associated with [[Christmas]] as a decoration under which lovers are expected to kiss, as well as with protection from [[Christian demonology|witches and demons]].<ref name="Mosteller-2010">{{cite book |last1=Mosteller |first1=Angie |title=Christmas |date=2010 |publisher=First Printing |pages=119}}</ref> Mistletoe continued to be associated with fertility and vitality through the Middle Ages, and by the eighteenth century it had also become incorporated into Christmas celebrations around the world. The custom of kissing under the mistletoe is referred to as popular among servants in late eighteenth-century England.<ref>"When at Christmas in the hall / The men and maids are hopping, / If by chance I hear them bawl / Amongst them quick I pop in. / All the men, Jem, John, and Joe, / Cry, "What good luck has sent ye?" / And kiss beneath the mistletoe / The girl not turn'd of twenty...", song by [[George Colman the Younger]] in the musical comedy ''Two to One'' (1784)</ref><ref>"The pendant mistletoe, hung up to view / Reminds the youth, the duty youth should do: / While titt'ring maidens, to enhance their wishes / Entice the men to smother them with kisses...", ''The Times'' (London), 24 December 1787 p.3 (poem), ''The Approach of Christmas''.</ref>

The serving class of Victorian England is credited with perpetuating the tradition.<ref name=History.com>{{cite web|title=Why do we kiss under the mistletoe?|url=http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/why-do-we-kiss-under-the-mistletoe|website=History.com|access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> The tradition dictated that a man was allowed to kiss any woman standing underneath mistletoe, and that bad luck would befall any woman who refused the kiss.<ref name="Beam-2011">{{cite web|last1=Beam|first1=Christopher|title=What's the deal with mistletoe?|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/12/whats_the_deal_with_mistletoe.html|website=slate.com|access-date=July 8, 2015|date=2011-12-14}}</ref><ref name="Norton-2010">{{cite web|last1=Norton|first1=Lily|title=Pucker up! Why do people kiss under the mistletoe?|url=http://www.livescience.com/32901-why-we-kiss-under-mistletoe.html|website=livescience.com|date=21 December 2010|access-date=July 8, 2015}}</ref> One variation on the tradition stated that with each kiss a berry was to be plucked from the mistletoe, and the kissing must stop after all the berries had been removed.<ref name=History.com/><ref name="Norton-2010" />

From at least the mid-nineteenth century, Caribbean herbalists of African descent have referred to mistletoe as "god-bush".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macfadyen |first1=J. |title=Flora Jamaica |date=1850 |page=198 |volume=II |quote=West-India Mistletoe... receives the name of the God-Bush from the Negroes.}}</ref> In Nepal, diverse mistletoes are used for a variety of medical purposes, particularly for treating broken bones.<ref name="O'Neill-2019">{{cite journal |last1=O'Neill |first1=A. R.| last2=Rana | first2= S. K. | date=2019 |title=An ethnobotanical analysis of parasitic plants (Parijibi) in the Nepal Himalaya |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine |volume=12 |issue=14 |pages=14|doi=10.1186/s13002-016-0086-y |pmid=26912113|pmc=4765049 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Mistletoe is the floral emblem of the U.S. state of [[Oklahoma]] and the flower of the UK county of [[Herefordshire]]. Every year, the UK town of [[Tenbury Wells]] holds a mistletoe festival and crowns a 'Mistletoe Queen'.<ref name="BBC News"/>