Where did kissing under the mistletoe come from?

I'm not going to look it up :) Ok well my guess is someone and their boyfriend/girlfriend were kissing and then they realized there was a mistletoe plant above them, so their started hanging it, and kissing under it, and spread the word with friends and they started to do the same! Good guess? Sorry yamster i have no idea! UPDATE: why did i get so many thumbs down yahoo? You said NOT to look it up and give a guess, and this was my guess and i get thumbs downs!? that's not fair. I could have just looked it up and them given my answer. This is upsetting :(

I'm going to make my own story up! A few hundred years ago, a man was dying of a terrible illness. He had a terrible fever, seizures, and dehydration. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him - homemade medicine after homemade medicine couldn't cure him. Fearful for his life, the doctors contacted the priests. The priests came and examined the mans spiritual life - he drank, partied, and had premarital 'relationships'. Believing they had the answer, the priests told the man that 'To heal you must live a chaste life, one so pure a monk would be jealous' and left him alone. The man prayed and swore off all his activities if God would just heal him. The man waited for days and had no answer. Meanwhile, his neighbor, a young maiden from down the road, was worrying about her neighbor, whom she had secretly been harboring thoughts for. She made him some soup, but accidentally sprinkled some crushed mistletoe instead of bay leaves. The maiden went to go visit her love, but he refused to see her, arguing that he was to remain chaste in order to be healed by God. Angry and confused, the woman refused to leave, sitting down and setting the bowl of soup on the table by him. Hours passed, and the man still refused to speak or even look at the woman, but yet she stayed. After almost a day, the woman became hungry, but she refused to move, instead picking up the bowl of soup and scarfing it down, her eyes never leaving the man she loved. Soon the woman fell terribly ill and quickly began to die. Horrified, the man tried to help but was unable to leave his bed and was forced to watch. The woman made her way to him and whispered 'The cure is love, and love is what you need, and thus lost' and kissed him gently on the lips before falling to the floor, paralyzed. The man felt his lips burn and spent the next several hours in excruciating pain. 'I probably deserve this for all I've done' the man thought, and prepared for his own demise. The man woke up several days later, surrounded by doctors and priests. They were arguing over how he has gotten better. The doctors argued that the mistletoe in the soup had killed off a parasite or fungus, curing him. The priests argued that the man's chaste love had cured him, insisting God showed him the correct path. The man sat up in bed and smiled. 'Love was a cure, and love is what I will never lose' he said, staring over at his lover's body. 'Because she is always with me'. To this day we kiss underneath the mistletoe, to remind us that love can triumph all dangers, illness, and injury, as long as we believe it can. Best of wishes, Andrew G.

Kissing under the mistletoe is first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia. The Mistletoe was believed to have the power of bestowing fertility.

Here is my idea of where kissing under the mistle toe came from. :) Well, there was this King, and on Christmas Eve, he wanted to kiss his wife, named MISTLE, in their garden. So they had a picnic in their garden, under a bunch of plants and leaves. As the King leaned in for a kiss, he stubbed his TOE. That is where the name mistletoe comes from. The people of the village heard about the King's mishap and found it very funny. To this day, on Christmas Eve, couples all over the world kiss under the mistle toe. Thanks to a very nervous and clumsy King!!

If athletes get athlete's foot, what do astronauts get? Missile toe! Growing up in North Florida, I saw a few oak trees with mistletoe growing in the branches. In winter when the leaves fell off, you'd see these bush-like growths, still green, way up in the trees. In early times, in certain parts of the world where all the local trees might be deciduous and lose their leaves in winter, these mistletoe plants would be the only green thing, and seen at the winter solstice as a sign of life and probably fertility, and so lovers would meet under these plants. Myths and customs would grow up around this practice and make for nice stories.

According to pagan traditions the god Loki in envy killed the handsome god Balder with a dart made from the mistletoe; all other plants having vowed not to harm Balder; the mistletoe, having been overlooked, was therefore used. According to this pagan tradition the mistletoe dart was plucked out of Balder's fatal wound and given to the goddess of love, Freya. From this, came the custom that a man may kiss a woman if he sees her under the mistletoe. Also in ancient times pagans would hang both the mistletoe and wreaths of holly in windows and doorways for their supposed curative and protective powers, to keep witches and evil spirits from entering.

I was told that it was a pagan tradition... one god killed another god with a dart made out of mistletoe's. then later the dart was removed from the god that was hurt by it and was given to the pagan goddess of love and from there evolved that the man may kiss a woman if he sees her under the mistletoe. I BELIEVE that mistletoe brings good fortune. And so people thought, "if this brings good fortune then perhaps kissing under it and both man and woman picks a berry, would bring us good fortunate when trying to conceive a child" which is called a blessing in the end

YO MAmA ***** :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))...

Kissing under the mistletoe is first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia and later with primitive marriage rites. They probably originated from two beliefs. One belief was that it has power to bestow fertility. It was also believed that the dung from which the mistletoe would also possess "life-giving" power. In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace, under which enemies could declare a truce or warring spouses kiss and make-up. Later, the eighteenth-century English credited with a certain magical appeal called a kissing ball. At Christmas time a young lady standing under a ball of mistletoe, brightly trimmed with evergreens, ribbons, and ornaments, cannot refuse to be kissed. Such a kiss could mean deep romance or lasting friendship and goodwill. If the girl remained unkissed, she cannot expect not to marry the following year. In some parts of England the Christmas mistletoe is burned on the twelfth night lest all the boys and girls who have kissed under it never marry. Whether we believe it or not, it always makes for fun and frolic at Christmas celebrations. Even if the pagan significance has been long forgotten, the custom of exchanging a kiss under the mistletoe can still be found in many European countries as well as in Canada. Thus if a couple in love exchanges a kiss under the mistletoe, it is interpreted as a promise to marry, as well as a prediction of happiness and long life. In France, the custom linked to mistletoe was reserved for New Year's Day: "Au gui l'An neuf" (Mistletoe for the New Year). Today, kisses can be exchanged under the mistletoe any time during the holiday season.