Magical Mistletoe
Mistletoe (or druden fuss) has been sold at auctions for hundreds of years. John Greeves pays a visit to the home of our festive foliage
John Greeves is in mistletoe capital Tenbury Wells
QUEEN VICTORIA once referred to the small ancient market town of Tenbury Wells, in the north-west corner of Worcestershire, as “my little town in the orchard.”
While the area has undergone change over the years and the ubiquitous orchards and hopyards are less visible today, agriculture still dominates. There are still enough orchards left to remind us of the vital role these once played in providing a rich variety of apples, perry-pears, damson and plums. And, because of this, the area is prime mistletoe country, for this parasitic plant sets up home in the boughs of the apple trees.
The River Teme runs along the edge of the town, separating Worcestershire from Shropshire. The Herefordshire border is less than a mile away, while Tenbury Wells is only a short drive from the historic towns of
Shrewsbury, Hereford, Worcester and Ludlow.
Every year, the biggest mistletoe auctions take place at Burford House Garden Stores, Burford, (just outside Tenbury), on the last Tuesday in November and the first Tuesday in December.
More than 1,500 buyers and members of the public turn up to bid for their festive foliage. At one time mistletoe and holly auctions were held extensively in the Hereford and Shropshire area, but Tenbury now hosts the only ones left.
Nick Champion has run these auctions since 1977 and along with holly and mistletoe, he also sells Christmas trees and holly wreaths.
The auctions start at 10.15 am with the selling of 2,000-4,000 holly wreaths at each sale. Then 10-kilogram lots (or more) of holly and mistletoe are up for sale. These are laid out in rows in the garden in a majestic setting with the Georgian mansion in the background.
English mistletoe (Viscum album) is also known as birdlime, all-heal, golden bough, druden fuss and devil fuge and grows predominantly in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Somerset. The parasitic plant prefers a temperate wet climate and in other areas of Britain it
is quite scarce. About 50% of British mistletoe now grows on cultivated apple trees. Other host trees include poplars, hawthorn, lime and some conifers but contrary to popular belief it’s rarely seen on the oak. According to Pliny, the Druidic priesthood valued and worshipped mistletoe that grew on their sacred oak, but this was infrequent and its connection has been greatly exaggerated by the writers of the 18th and 19th century.
Nick Champion advises the vendors at the auctions not to “mix good mistletoe with bad, because it won’t sell. What they really want with the mistletoe is dark green leaf and nice white berries. For the holly (a lot of which is still found on old sheepfenced boundaries) you want bright red berries and a smooth but really prickly leaf.”
Some 500 to 1,500 lots can be sold on the day to buyers who come from all over the country and even from abroad to attend the auctions. The auction is open to wholesalers, florists, garden centres, farm-shops, market traders, wedding organisers, members of the public and even buyers for the cruise ships.
Nick thinks it’s important to keep the auction tradition alive, but he realises, like so many things, it may be losing its influence with the passing years and other holly and mistletoe auctions have now gone.
“When we first started out we had four sales in a year,” he says. “Now we’re down to two.”
While mistletoe prices have taken a bit of a dip, last year marked a resurgence in sales, with mistletoe selling for up to £5 a kilo.
“That’s the best trade we’ve seen for several years.”
Let’s hope it continues. Diann Dowell, is chair of the Tenbury Mistletoe Association (TMA) and is passionate to keep the Mistletoe Festival alive and thriving for the people of Tenbury Wells.
“Things change and fade out. Life changes, there are different cycles but it’s still important to keep the tradition and heritage alive,” she tells me.
Not only does the TMA embrace the role as custodians of heritage and tradition but it is also keenly aware of the enormous economic benefits the festival brings to the town. The role of Tenbury as the “Capital of English Mistletoe” has not always had a smooth ride. In 2004 the Tenbury Mistletoe Association petitioned Parliament to recognise
1 December as “Mistletoe Day”. This followed an announcement that annual auctions in the heart of the town were to end with the closure of the livestock market.
The town was not prepared to surrender its heritage, so a newly formed association was set up to keep the mistletoe tradition alive. Luckily, the auctions found a new home a short distance out of town while the TMA organised a Mistletoe Festival which has continued to this day. It’s held on the first Saturday in December every year and has grown in popularity ever since.
The festival brings the community together in a special way and is a great day out for adults and children alike. Momentum builds from September with upwards of 60 to 70 local businesses signed up to purchase great swathes of mistletoe to dress their premises. These are lit up individually with 24 lights and come on automatically for six hours at a time.
Activities and events planned for 2019 include the crowning of the Mistletoe Queen and Holly Prince, storytelling and readings with writer and illustrator Helen Wendy Cooper from her children’s book The Kissing Tree. This introduces younger children to mistletoe and its heritage. Special market and craft stalls will be set up in the historical venues of the Round Market and the Pump Rooms. The all-year-round Mistletoe Shop will also sell a range of crafted items.
“There are many craft businesses that operate from home and we want to bring them out because it’s all showing off Tenbury,” Diann says.
Male and female mistletoe is cut the day before the festival.
“It’s caught in a white cloth and doesn’t touch the ground. A Druid ceremony is undertaken in which the male and the female mistletoe are brought together. The Druids bring it to the River Teme, where it’s set off down the river with an enduring prayer for peace,” Diann tells me.
This year, the Men in Harmony choir and Morris Dancers will perform at different venues while children will create their own Christmas willow decorations and events will ultimately culminate in the Santa parade. In recent years, Diann and the association have worked to increase the accessibility and involvement of the community, especially among young people in the festival. Five Mistletoe Maidens and five Holly Henchmen as well as Frigg, the Norse goddess of love, marriage and destiny, and Loki, the cunning Norse trickster, have been included as additional characters to this seasonal pageant. Santa Golden Tickets are given to children who write the most inspiring letters to Santa, and last year they had a Kiss-a-thon at which the BBC filmed the build-up and it appeared on Best Christmas Food Ever.
Diann lets me into a secret. “I actually wrote a letter to the palace to see if Harry and Megan, being the wedding of last year, would like to take part in the Kiss-a-thon.”
Unfortunately, the long awaited reply said the couple would be out of the country and arrived after the event had taken place. Diann hopes this year to include the Kiss-a-thon in one of several monthly events that will build up to the Mistletoe Festival in December. She believes the world record could be broken, if the association receives the backing of the Agricultural Society and the event is performed at a large agricultural show earlier in the year.
The festival evolves every year, and within the town there is pleasure and satisfaction around its existence. For Diann, this has become a unique personal journey in many ways.
“When I look at the plant and what I’ve experienced with it, I can honestly say that once I came under its spell, it has never let me go.”
Diann isn’t the only person to have fallen under the spell of the mistletoe. There are many traditions associated with Christmas in which lots of us still indulge. To kiss under the mistletoe has many ageless antecedents including ancient fertility traditions. Mistletoe is reflected in many uses as a medicine to encourage fertility and as a charm for girls to find a husband and has roots in the Saturnalia festivals of the past.
When kissing under mistletoe, the correct etiquette is for the gentleman to remove one berry after the kiss and to hand it to the lady. When all the berries have gone, no more kissing is permitted.
Mistletoe traditions form a vital part of midwinter customs and its history predates even Christianity. It’s found in Norse, Greek and Judaic mythology. In the Viking sagas, Balder, the murdered son of Frigg, is brought back to life with a mother’s kiss. Frigg’s pearlescent tears can still be seen on the mistletoe today. The goddess decreed mistletoe should be a symbol of peace and goodwill for evermore and this remains as the Christmas message we all proclaim today. Merry Mistletoe season!
I was thrilled to read the article by Vic Tadd about Ian Allan in the autumn issue.
I was a trainspotter between, I think, 1951 to 1957. I lived between Harrow and Wembley and the nearest main line was the LMS which went past South Kenton Station.
Most days in the school holidays two friends and myself would be collecting train numbers. I also collected the GWR at Ealing Broadway on a Saturday because my grandmother lived in Ealing and my mother and I went to see her every Saturday.
I had the 1955 summer edition of the Ian Allan Combined Book. The pride of the GWR was The King 6000 Class and I collected all these except 6015 King Richard III and 6020 King Richard IV.
I have been reading This England for over 40 years, a great joy.
David Roy, by email