Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Mistletoe would it? Bringing in greenery when everything else in nature has withered or died, to decorate buildings during midwinter festivals is a custom of great antiquity. Plants like Holly, Ivy & Mistletoe were symbols of undying life, yet while holly and ivy are often referred in carols and documents from the mediaeval period, there is very little about mistletoe until the 18thc.
Once you start exploring the history of mistletoe it becomes more and more complex and lost in a web of legends. But how did it became to be associated with Druids? This talk tells the story of the plant and the man who almost singlehandedly invented most of what we think we know about the Druids…and that includes mistletoe too!
GARDEN HISTORY TALKS 