It's a curious thing that Mistletoe and Holly are so often confused with each other. They don't look very much alike, so why the mix up? My theory for this is that they have the same symbolic meaning, and for very similar reasons. Holly is associated with Christ's suffering and crucifixion, and Mistletoe is associated with the death of Balder, the Norse god of beauty. To make up for the fact that these plants were used in terrible ways for no fault of their own, devotees of Balder and Christ made it a habit to bring these plants into their homes as symbols of the beauty and affection that evil tried to destroy.
It's tempting to conclude from this that our reverence for these plants come directly from Norse and Roman mythology. However, the druids considered both plants to have healing power. They too revered these plants. There's therefore a Celtic connection to this story that goes parallel to that of the Norse and the Romans.
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| Mistletoe |
By Elie plus at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
.jpg#/media/File:Ilex-aquifolium_(Europaeische_Stechpalme-1).jpg "Holly") |
| Holly |
By Jürgen Howaldt - Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, Link
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