The Druids and the Mistletoe—­Pliny, in his Natural History, tells us, “The Druids held nothing so sacred as the mistletoe of the oak, as this is very scarce and rarely to be found, when any of it is discovered, they go with great pomp and ceremony on a certain day to gather it.  When they have got everything in readiness under the oak, both for the sacrifice and the banquet, which they make on this great festival, they begin by tying two white bulls to it by the horns, then one of the Druids, clothed in white, mounts the tree, and with a knife of gold, cuts the mistletoe, which is received in a white sagum; this done, they proceed to their sacrifices and feastings.”  This festival is said to have been kept as near as the age of the moon permitted to the 10th of March, which was their New Year’s Day.  The common mistletoe was the golden bough of Virgil, and was Aenea’s passport to the infernal regions.  P.T.W.

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