
By Almira Ross
Almira is an anti-ageing and rejuvenation specialist with HOLISTIC LONDON. She specializes in easy and efficient ways to help her clients look and feel younger and more vital each day.
For more information, visit here
Here’s the fascinating story of how we came to kiss under the mistletoe:
Back in the days of Celtic Britain, the winter solstice was a big mid-winter celebration that marked the return of the light. On 21 December, the sun reaches its most southerly point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere and turns. At this point the days grow longer. It is the first day of the return of the sun’s light to warm the earth and bring forth new life in the spring.
The Ancient Celts lived in a highly regulated society, and it was only at festival times that they were allowed to let their hair down and have a good romp. Some of those traditions remain with us: Trick or treats at Hallowe’en, and kissing under the mistletoe are a couple of examples. At Hallowe’en — the festival of Samhain — they could play tricks on one another. At the winter solstice, they got to enjoy an orgy or two with anyone who took their fancy.
Mistletoe was sacred to the Celts and was only used in special ways by the Druid priests throughout the year. However, at the winter solstice, they made a special preparation of it — it’s poisonous, so exactly how they did this is not something I know — and added it to the mead. Turns out the mistletoe acted as a morning after pill, and meant that there were no unwanted pregnancies from their permitted flings with the neighbour’s wife or sister’s boyfriend.
And to this day, we kiss with impunity under the mistletoe.
(Editors note: Readers might use this story as a Healing Tip this week, if it applies...)
Almira is an anti-ageing and rejuvenation specialist with HOLISTIC LONDON. She specializes in easy and efficient ways to help her clients look and feel younger and more vital each day.
For more information, visit here
Here’s the fascinating story of how we came to kiss under the mistletoe:
Back in the days of Celtic Britain, the winter solstice was a big mid-winter celebration that marked the return of the light. On 21 December, the sun reaches its most southerly point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere and turns. At this point the days grow longer. It is the first day of the return of the sun’s light to warm the earth and bring forth new life in the spring.
The Ancient Celts lived in a highly regulated society, and it was only at festival times that they were allowed to let their hair down and have a good romp. Some of those traditions remain with us: Trick or treats at Hallowe’en, and kissing under the mistletoe are a couple of examples. At Hallowe’en — the festival of Samhain — they could play tricks on one another. At the winter solstice, they got to enjoy an orgy or two with anyone who took their fancy.
Mistletoe was sacred to the Celts and was only used in special ways by the Druid priests throughout the year. However, at the winter solstice, they made a special preparation of it — it’s poisonous, so exactly how they did this is not something I know — and added it to the mead. Turns out the mistletoe acted as a morning after pill, and meant that there were no unwanted pregnancies from their permitted flings with the neighbour’s wife or sister’s boyfriend.
And to this day, we kiss with impunity under the mistletoe.
(Editors note: Readers might use this story as a Healing Tip this week, if it applies...)