Do people kiss under a mistletoe in Scandinavia? Is there a mistletoe tradition in Scandinavia? Yes, to both questions - and it's actually a very interesting part of Norse mythology. Let's find out more about the Scandinavian mistletoe history.
What started the kissing tradition for mistletoes in Scandinavia? The answer lies in Scandinavian mythology:
The Norse goddess of love was Frigga. Frigga had two sons, one of which was blind. The evil figure of Loki made an arrow out of mistletoe wood and shot Frigga's blind son with the mistletoe arrow. The blind son died, and the goddess' tears became the mistletoe's white berries.
When Frigga's blind son came back to life later, the Nordic goddess decided to turn mistletoes in Scandinavia into a symbol of love and fertility, requiring a kiss between humans meeting beneath mistletoes in Scandinavia.
