今日はクリスマス。 ― kissing under the mistletoe

言われなくても分かっていますと言われそうですが、今日は12月25日、クリスマスです。

もはや商業イベントと化したクリスマスについて色々と批判的な見方をしてみても仕方がありませんが、この時期の色々な慣習について思いを馳せることは意義のあることだろうと思います。

"mistletoe"は、ヤドリギという植物ですが、ヤドリギの下では異性がキスすることを許されるという言い伝え（慣習）があるということをご存知でしたか？


Christmas is a time for stealing kisses under the mistletoe. In Shanghai this weekend, the city’s increasingly visible gay and lesbian community seized the festive season to use their lips to make their own holiday statement.

More than one hundred supporters of China’s fledgling gay and lesbian community braved the cold to cheer on young Chinese gay men and women as they stole kisses under a Christmas tree Saturday night.

“I think it’s good we can gather together like this,” said Otto Zhu, 22 years old, a participant at the event at fashionable pedestrian shopping and dining area Xintiandi. “It makes us feel we have the power to do whatever we want.”

While attitudes are slowly changing, many Chinese still take a conservative view of homosexuality. Even many among the younger generation feel compelled to keep their sexual orientation secret. The pressure to remain in the closet, marry and have a family can be enormous.
(A Statement Under the Mistletoe for China’s LGBT Community. The Wall Street Journal. December 23, 2013.)


引用記事では“異性”ならぬ、“同性”の話題になってしまいましたが、"kissing under the mistletoe"の由来は北欧神話に遡るようです。


Why do we pucker up under this parasitic plant?

One story of mistletoe's beginnings comes from Norse mythology: The god Baldur was certain that Earth's plants and animals wanted to kill him, so his mother and wife negotiated with every living thing to leave Baldur alone. But mistletoe was the one plant his wife and mother overlooked, and, ultimately, Baldur was killed with an arrow made from the plant. "We kiss beneath it to remember what Baldur's wife and mother forgot," writes biologist Rob Dunn in Smithsonian Magazine.
(Jolie Lee. Spiked eggnog to mistletoe, Christmas traditions explained. USA Today. December 18, 2013.)


ヤドリギには妊娠やお産に効果があるという言い伝えもあるらしく、"kissing under the mistletoe"は人口に膾炙した表現となっていますが、同性愛者が自己を主張する現代に引き合いに出されるとは誰が予想したでしょうか。