Kissing Under the Mistletoe - An Ancient Tradition

Today, mistletoe kissing most often happens at a party - be it at a friend's home, the office shindig or a bar. If you're single or newly coupled, you're in luck. The holiday season is the ultimate "karpe kissem" opportunity to show your affection for someone when the spirit moves you, and in a way that's perfectly acceptable. It's golden! And you might get just want you asked Santa for!

If there is someone you've had your eye, use that mistletoe as a 007 "license to kiss". If you're worried about getting your intended under that magical berry sprig, carry your own - it's a very convenient way to ensure a kiss no matter where you are! The plastic ones are good if you plan on mistletoe cruising over the holiday stretch. It's also the perfect time when you've been dating someone new to break the ice in a fun, frisky way. Mistletoe gives you pleasurable permission for that first kiss, and can help relieve some of the nervousness of wondering when and where.

This fabulous, flirty custom began long ago in the Golden Age of Rome with the festival of Saturnalia - a holiday of feasting and gift giving which ran from Dec. 17th-23rd, and ended with a day where households servants switched roles with their masters. Kissing under the mistletoe was also popular with the Druids and Scandinavians who associated it with peace and fertility.

Classic mistletoe kissing etiquette back in the early days varied. Most common then, as is now, would be to kiss anyone who walked under it. Another custom required a man to pluck the berry when he kissed the woman, and if there were no more berries left on the sprig, there couldn't be anymore kissing. All universal codes of mistletoe kissing conduct say it's bad kissing karma to refuse a kiss!