By the mid-nineteenth century hanging mistletoe at Christmas was all the rage, featuring regularly in accounts of celebrations, particularly newspapers and magazine, often with pictures. And of course there were paintings too, some by very famous painters – a favourite of mine is Bringing in the Mistletoe, a druid-themed painting by Edward Atkinson Hornel. But that’s not the one I’m featuring today! Most were of a much more domestic scenario than Hornel’s picture, and one […]
berries , Current Affairs , druids , Food and Drink , Gardening , Media , Mistletoe , Orchard , social history
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Mistletoe and Orchards on ITV today
Plenty of mistletoe mentions on ITV this morning – all within the 2 hour show Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh (on ITV Hub here). Helped along a bit by Sir Cliff ‘Mistletoe and Wine‘ Richard being the main guest. Christmas swag-making featured about 30 minutes in – with plenty of mistletoe incorporated into a very long decoration. Some good mentions of how sticky the berries are, and their need for light when germinating, but […]
berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe , Orchard , social history
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The Mistletoe Boats
Going through old trading accounts of mistletoe ( as I am today, compiling some figures for a research paper) I’m often surprised at the attention given to mistletoe imports, once acknowledged to be the main source of Christmas mistletoe in Britain. Yes we do grow our own, and do still cut and sell our own, but there was once and probably still is a flourishing trade in imports, mainly from France. Newspaper coverage of these […]
Current Affairs , Doctor Who , druids , Mistletoe , Science , social history
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Whovian mistletoe from 1978
A little light relief from current affairs – for Doctor Who fans anyway. I’ve commented before on mistletoe having bit parts in Doctor Who – notably protecting Queen Victoria (and David Tennant’s Doctor) from a Werewolf in a 2006 episode. And also mistletoe featuring, unremarked but possibly significantly, outside a portal in a 2017 episode with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor (I met Mr C briefly this year. Nice man, he said ‘hello’). Now, via the magic […]
berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Media , Mistletoe , social history
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Another berry good year
Loads of berries, again, on the mistletoe this year. Which would, normally, mean lots of harvesting, sales and, of course, use of mistletoe. But we have two problems this season, already mentioned in recent posts, both caused by the Covid pandemic. Firstly fewer mistletoe sales – the Tenbury Wells Auctions are cancelled. And secondly social distancing – how can you kiss under mistletoe when you can’t get closer than 2 metres and wearing a mask? […]
Blogroll , Current Affairs , Media , Mistletoe , social history
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Mistletoe auctions covid-cancelled
Just a quick update re the Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Auctions – these have now also been cancelled, as well as the Mistletoe Festival. Which seems to raise the possibility that, not only will there be no kissing under mistletoe because of Covid fears, there’ll be no mistletoe to kiss under either! Never fear, not all mistletoe comes from Tenbury’s auctions! There are many other ways for wholesalers, retailers and the public to buy mistletoe – […]
Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe , social history
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Mistletoe Season 2020 – this year with added Covid…
So here we go again, another mistletoe season on the horizon. But can mistletoe work its magic with Covid-19 restrictions? Will kissing a stranger be a possibility this season? Is a quick snog with a friend achievable? We shall see. Though I think I can predict much of the answer already! But whatever happens I’m fairly confident people will still be celebrating with and hanging up mistletoe. Even if those mistletoe kisses end up being […]
berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , Mistletoe , Orchard , social history
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Spring – mistletoe has nothing to do but grow…
April, in lockdown, and the main mistletoe action season is over – berries ripened (Nov/Dec/Jan), seeds planted (Feb/March), flowers over (Feb/March), pollination done (Feb/March). From now until next winter mistletoe has nothing to do but grow. For the seedlings it’s a bit more challenging – they still have to link into their new host’s vascular system, but for a mature mistletoe there really isn’t anything else to do now. Just grow new shoots and new […]
berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Media , Mistletoe , social history
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Mistletoe on BBC R4 this morning
Happy Christmas! And if you want a mistletoey start to your day have a listen to today’s Farming Today on BBC R4 – which is all about mistletoe, including an interview with me. Available (for a while at least) on BBC Sounds App or on the website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000cmt2
berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Media , Mistletoe , Orchard , Science , social history
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Mistletoe trade – then and now
Many of my mistletoe talks this season have had a history theme, looking back at mistletoe in days gone by – both ancient (myth, legend etc) and modern, describing how Christmas demand for mistletoe from the 19th century onwards made it a saleable product, not just a curious tree parasite. The trade in mistletoe grew and grew – built on the growing popularity of the kissing custom in the Victorian era and a desire, requirement […]