what is a or the mistletoe??

Question

I keep hearing this in movies & t.v shows, and I wonder what it is or who he/she is??(please answer)

Answer 1

a plant that if you are under it you can kiss someone

Answer 2

It's a poisonous parasitic vine which attaches itself to trees or shrubs. Traditionally, sprigs of mistletoe are hung over doorways during the Christmas season. If two people find themselves under the mistletoe at the same time, they are supposed to kiss. Not surprisingly, this means that mistletoe has been used as a plot device in many Christmas movies, TV shows, songs, etc. The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe dates back to 19th century England.

Answer 3

Mistletoe is a parasite that grows on other trees and eventually will kill the host tree. It is a tradition at Christmas to hang it up so that if you are standing under it everyone around you has to kiss you. (That is good if you are trying to get someone at the office to notice you.)

Answer 4

IT is a festive plant that is known around the Christmas season. If two people walk under the mistletoe that is hanging, they must kiss!

Answer 5

Mistletoe is a parasite that grows on trees and if you cut some and hang it in your house, anyone standing under it gets a kiss!

Answer 6

What is misseltoe?Is that your question?It's a green Paracite plant that grows way up high in some trees during the cold months.People harvest it and it is used mostly around the holidays.People put it over doorways and if you stand under it with a guy or girl ,you are suppose to kiss.Just silly stuff.You can usually find it in little bags,sometimes it has white berries on it.

Answer 7

It is a parasitic plant that grows on oaks, pines and some other trees. It has been used medicinally for thousands of years.
Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistletoe

Answer 8

Kissing under the Misteltoe

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.

The Legend :

For its supposedly mystical power mistletoe has long been at the center of many folklore. One is associated with the Goddess Frigga. The story goes that Mistletoe was the sacred plant of Frigga, goddess of love and the mother of Balder, the god of the summer sun. Balder had a dream of death which greatly alarmed his mother, for should he die, all life on earth would end. In an attempt to keep this from happening, Frigga went at once to air, fire, water, earth, and every animal and plant seeking a promise that no harm would come to her son. Balder now could not be hurt by anything on earth or under the earth. But Balder had one enemy, Loki, god of evil and he knew of one plant that Frigga had overlooked in her quest to keep her son safe. It grew neither on the earth nor under the earth, but on apple and oak trees. It was lowly mistletoe. So Loki made an arrow tip of the mistletoe, gave to the blind god of winter, Hoder, who shot it , striking Balder dead. The sky paled and all things in earth and heaven wept for the sun god. For three days each element tried to bring Balder back to life. He was finally restored by Frigga, the goddess and his mother. It is said the tears she shed for her son turned into the pearly white berries on the mistletoe plant and in her joy Frigga kissed everyone who passed beneath the tree on which it grew. The story ends with a decree that who should ever stand under the humble mistletoe, no harm should befall them, only a kiss, a token of love. What could be more natural than to translate the spirit of this old myth into a Christian way of thinking and accept the mistletoe as the emblem of that Love which conquers Death? Its medicinal properties, whether real or imaginary, make it a just emblematic of that Tree of Life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations thus paralleling it to the Virgin Birth of Christ.
kisses

Answer 9

mistletoe is a plant people hang at christmas and if two people stand under it they have to kiss

Answer 10

The mistletoe I know of is a fungus that grows on trees.
It can kill the tree.

Answer 11

a mistletoe is a holiday leaf that when two people go underneath it, the rule is that they are suppose to kiss