#Christmas plants

[banefolk]

Next in the christmas botanicals series is mistletoe, the famous white-berried tree parasite associated with druids, animal sacrifice, thunder god semen, the death of the Norse god Baldr, and the Trojan hero Aeneas using it to safely travel to the underworld. Many of us may think of mistletoe as belonging solely to the British Isles and Europe, but did you know there are 1500 different species of mistletoe worldwide? There are mistletoes in the United States, Mexico, South America, Asia, and Australia too.

Mistletoe is another poisonous plant used by our pagan ancestors for spiritual protection in winter. It was brought inside homes and placed in the rafters around the winter solstice to protect from ghosts, evil spirits, witches, illness, lightning, house fires, and bad luck in general. Unlike other winter greenery, it was left up all year and only replaced at the next winter solstice or christmas day. The practice is a living tradition of paganism. It wasn’t really adopted/stolen by the church, people simply never stopped the tradition. The church never banned it. Only a handful of later Protestant ministers got upset about the newer kissing tradition in the 1800s.

Kissing under mistletoe is believed to be Scandinavian in origin —that those who kissed under it were supposed to have a true and enduring love. This superstition ended up twisted by pervy Englishmen into a tradition of “a woman can’t refuse a kiss under the mistletoe or bad luck will befall her.” As the kissing superstition is fairly recent and largely invented —feel free to ignore it.

Mistletoe was once believed to be an antidote to all poisons and diseases. We know that’s not the case today but it does have historical traditional uses of treating arthritis, high blood pressure, respiratory issues, epilepsy, and infertility. While the plant itself has not been shown to help with cancer, some of its extracted and concentrated toxins have been found to be cytotoxic (destroys cancer cells).

Like the Native American snowberry (see previous post), mistletoe is also traditionally used to protect the cradles and beds of babies and small children. It can supposedly protect adults too when placed in the bedroom. Its presence is supposed to provide a good sleep with happy dreams.

If you have a bit of time, it’s quite a fun herb to research and maybe you’ll discover a native species growing in your region!

Resources: Wikipedia, Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, Folklore & Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees, and The Folklore of Plants (Thiselton Dyer, 1889).

#bane folk #poisonous plants #poison path #mistletoe #viscum album #christmas botanicals #christmas plants #plant folklore #ethnobotany

[dedibelyegei]

Nagyon boldog karácsonyt kívánok minden kedves követőnek és véletlen idetévedőnek is! Természetesen van a tarsolyban karácsonyi bélyeg dögivel, most újfent egy kanadait választottam a jeles napra, ők amúgy elég jók a műfajban.

A '87-es karácsonyi bélyegsor négytagú, és a Karácsonyi Növények (Christmas Plants) nevet viseli. Hát azt látni fogjuk majd, hogy ez azért erősen elnagyolt név, mert nem feltétlen élő növényfajtákról beszélünk, hanem inkább a karácsonyra jellemző, akkor megjelenő motívumokra. A fenti bélyeg a legmagasabb névértékű is alapvetően a karácsonyfát, és a fagyöngyöt mutatja be, illetve egy tál narancsot?? - talán. Ez valami kanadai szokás lehet. A sorozat többi tagja, 31, 36 és 42 centes, és rendre, egy karácsonyfarészletet ajándékokkal és díszekkel, egy mikulásvirágot és egy koszorú ajtódíszt ábrázolnak. A stílus nagyon konzisztens, egy bizonyos Claude A. Simard tervezte az egész sorozatot, szóval szépen összepasszolnak a képek. Megfigyelhető itt is az az érdekesség, hogy csakúgy mint a korábbi őslakos művészetes kanadai sorozatnál a legkisebb névértékű bélyeg, teljesen más méretű és tájolású, mint a másik három, és a felét elfoglalja a négy függőleges vastag csík. Égre -földre, kutattam de nem találtam magyarázatot, vagy okot miért csinálják ezt.

Sok tízmilliót nyomtak ebből a sorozatból, így nem mondhatjó jelentős értékűnek, de az én postatiszta példányom, azért egy 4-600 forintot kóstálhat, egy tiszta sorozat, pedig úgy 1500 forintért megy. Használtan marginális értékük van.

#bélyeg #stamp #canada #kanada #christmas #karácsony #noel #1987 #72 cent #christmas plants #karácsonyi növények

[christmaswinter]

Holly

#Holly #Christmas plants #winter #winter garden #Christmas #green #red #Christmas colours #frost

[fleursettia]

poinsettias

#plants #poinsettias #poinsettia #Christmas plants #plant blog #photography #my photography #upload

[nikswonderland]

By Roberto Moiola

#gorgeousss #photography #aesthetic #snow #forest #nature #winter #cottagecore #landscape #naturecore #trees #mountains #adventure #moon #plants #cozy #christmas

[hellsitegenetics]

it's amazing, just incredible, how this site keeps getting asks that go like "I hope it's a cat", "I love birds", and then the organism that comes out isn't even in the same phylum. anyway; not me, I'm different I'm special, and analysis of this text WILL result in a lizard

String identified: t' aag, t c, t t gttg a tat g " t' a cat", " ", a t t ga tat c t 't t a . aa; t , ' t ' ca, a aa t tt t a a

Closest match: Ilex aquifolium genome assembly, chromosome: 7 Common name: Christmas holly

#tumblr genetics #genetics #asks #requests #sent to me #plants #trees #christmas holly #holly #airlock

[ionomycin]

My favorite pieces this year

#artists on tumblr #thank you so much for another year #as long as i can keep doing art #i'm super grateful #got to work on some cool projects #tried to push myself to socialize more #it's hard #super mega hard #but i met a few new people and made friends i think?? #got to play d&d finally #trying to learn how to make friends as an adult lmao #after just focusing on drawing my whole life #shoutout to my plants as well #holding together my mental health through the winter #it's my 3rd christmas in germany #glad to spend another one with my partner in gay

[lilyhana]

I don’t have a Christmas tree or a lot of holiday decorations. I have flowers and plants.

#christmas #christmas plants

[geopsych]

For the plant people, houseplant fanfic.

#off topic #comic #not my art #funny #christmas #plants #house plants #houseplant fanfic

[banefolk]

Next in the christmas botanicals series is the deadly poisonous yew tree (taxus spp.) with its shiny evergreen foliage and bright red berries. Yew’s association with christmas is documented back to 1605 in Germany where a bough of yew (or other evergreen) was brought indoors and decorated with candy, nuts, and fruit. Queen Charlotte was German and brought her regional custom of decorating yew boughs to England creating a sensation at court. In 1800 she used a full tree instead of just a bough. That tree was a yew, making the earliest christmas tree in England a yew tree. Over 50 years before Prince Albert’s “first christmas tree”.

Yews have been venerated by many peoples for thousands of years because the trees live for thousands of years and are technically immortal. Yew fossil records date to 200 million years ago. It’s kind of a big deal.

Yew is heavily associated with death and resurrection. The trees are in a perpetual state of simultaneous decay and new growth. It is the real life tree version of the Dionysus-Osiris-Esus-Jesus resurrection myth. Yew is the deified world tree and greenmantle ruling the dark half of the year. It is the literal Holly King.

Yew’s use to decorate for the winter solstice very likely dates back to prechristian times. Poisons are often considered some of the most powerful protection herbs in traditional folk beliefs and it’s no coincidence many botanicals used to make christmas wreaths and garlands are poisonous. Our animistic ancestors across the northern hemisphere were using them to protect their homes and the people within from winter’s ghosts and ghouls. Yew has long been believed to protect from ghosts and the restless dead, hence its use in graveyards ancient and modern. Today evergreen garlands are used for decoration but their origin was magical protection.

#bane folk #yew #yew tree #taxus baccata #poisonous plants #poison path #Christmas plants

[7cfc00]

home is where the heart is (and yours is gone)

#happy holidays #dndads #dndads fanart #dungeons and daddies #dndaddies #dndads s1 #glenn close dndads #dndads season 2 #dndads odyssey #dndads glenn close #im so sick and fever rn so forgive me for any mistakes in this drawing or in my following explanation #background is covered in crosses for the bad day book. the chains represent his time in meth bay prison #the three swords are a reference to the three of swords tarot card which means like heartbreak or smth #also can be taken literally because his heart exploded #the swords themselves are modelled after the sword of justice to bring in themes of justice and punishment as well as referencing the trial #i also drew the same sword in the blackjack thing. #bottom left is his funeral pyre (referencing his death) and nick jr (representing his son's “death”) #the door is the door to his apartment its number 48 because ep 48 is carry on my wayward son #christmas decor cus of course hed had them up all year round #the plant is a peace lily representing death and funeral s again #headstone is morgan's the crysanthemum represents her death. this is because its also featured in the “remember death” thing i drew once #also i just associate flowers w the close family because it very easily represents both mortality and love #anyway. fuckin. his heart (loved ones + literal heart) are gone and its like. can he ever return home #idk smth about not being able to go back to the way things were smth about having the comfort of a home anymore. leaving all that shit behi #d. i feel so tired #sorry for the long explanation i think i may have went a little too hard on the symbolism but i didn t know how else to #express the feelings of glenn's conversation w darryl in that one episode

[backroad-life]

Credit: Annie Spratt

#christmas #christmas tree #tree #festive #holidays #spruce #pine #celebration #lights #christmas lights #xmas #plant #decoration #ornament #rustic

[mwppp]

i love lie low at lupin’s because what! am i suppose to believe that remus had two bedrooms! no!! there was one bed! i know it! everyone knows it! and now there’s implications there’s scenarios! theres healing and there’s sharing the bed in the middle of summer! the middle of summer!

#they went from no interaction (assumption.) for a year! to lie low at lupin! to a shared christmas gift! #the days are longer! the sun is hotter! i know remus was trying and failing to keep his plants alive! #i know he had a stupid little gardeners hat from hope! no! i change my mind! from lyall!!!!!!!!!!! #and he cant keep his garden alive! #and i know sirius walks in fucking post gof where he quite frankly went through Some things! & is like now i have to tend to remus’ garden. #(he does he makes it look beautiful)(he doesn’t wear the hat)

[buboplague]

merry christmas  🎄 watch out for pesky demons stealing your plant children

#christmas #illustration #demon zinru #local cryptid #digital #i deliberately left room on this to write merry christmas but then realized my handwriting is too terrible and gave up #now there's tons of empty space oops #plant ghosts

[nikswonderland]

𝒶 𝓌𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹…

#xmas is so close i can’t believe it #moodboard #snow #winter #forest #aesthetic #nature #trees #lake #christmas #mountains #scenery #cottagecore #plants #cozy #birds #naturecore

[proteidaes]

Pear tree 🍐✨

--

photoshop

#art #artists on tumblr #illustation #illumination #manuscript #medieval #pear tree #plants #flower prince #AH #MY BOY #I haven't posted too many OCs here lately #gonna fix that!!! #mirikh #christmas #OH YEAH this is my christmas and new year card this year #mutuals holler if you want one I will send you my form!!