Balder, Norse god of the Summer sun, dreamt that he was going to die. His mother, Frigga, said that if he died so will everything on Earth. To ensure her son's safety, Frigga went to all of the elements, animals and plants and asked them not to kill her son.
But Balder's only enemy, Loki, made a poisoned dart with mistletoe and tricked Balder´s blind brother Hoder into shooting the arrow killing the Summer god.
For three days, all the elements tried their hardest to bring Balder back to life, but failed.
But the tears that Frigga cried for her dead son changed the red mistletoe berries to white, raising her son from the dead. Frigga then kissed everyone who walked underneath it out of gratitude.
But the tears that Frigga cried for her dead son changed the red mistletoe berries to white, raising her son from the dead. Frigga then kissed everyone who walked underneath it out of gratitude.
In South Africa it´s called "bird lime" and voëlent in Afrikaans.
The sticky juice of the berries was used as adhesive to catch small animals or birds: ripe fruits were chewed until sticky, then rubbed between the palms of the hands to form long sticky strands which were coiled around small thin tree branches.
