My informant told me about the holiday tradition of hanging mistletoe around christmas time so that those who find themselves under it have to share a kiss, though my informant apparently does not participate in the tradition. He states that “if you kiss someone under the mistletoe, you fall in love.” Though I knew about mistletoe, I had never heard that it was supposed to cause you to fall in love.

Mistletoe is considered to be a symbol of fertility and has served for many other purposes besides this, like protection from evil. So how did this go from an object of fertility to one of love? Maybe to has to do with the American  culture and it’s obsession with the idea of love, especially the romantic idea of love at first sight, or even first kiss. But in Greece, if an in one couple kissed under the mistletoe it was supposed to serve as a proposal, as well as bring them good luck in their relationship. Somehow this has changed from and already in love couple sharing a kiss, to a couple falling in love through the kiss they shared underneath it. Maybe this idea of luck and love somehow intertwined, where the mistletoe became lucky in helping participants who kiss under it to fall in love.