It’s mistletoe-theme time again – lots of stuff with ‘mistletoe’ in the title that’s not, really, got a lot to do with mistletoe. All those ‘Mistletoe Markets’ so popular in the US, all those ‘Mistletoe Murders’ in that US TV series I’ve never actually watched. And not forgetting all those mistletoe-themed products – particularly my favourite bugbear, the ‘mistletoe’ scented candles, which smell of, er, pine (as mistletoe doesn’t have a scent). And all that […]
auctions , berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe , Mistletoe Day , social history , Tenbury Wells
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Mistletoe Season 2025/6
It’s mistletoe time, yet again. And this year the berries have been ripening particularly early, some whitening up a month ago in October – which is very early indeed, and somewhat disconcerting! But they’re looking good now, many fully translucent and already glowing in the winter sun (when it actually shines). Mistletoe Diary is reporting on various matters this year, but here, to start with, are few of the usual event announcements: Mistletoe Auctions at […]
auctions , Blogroll , Current Affairs , MistleGO , Mistletoe , social history , surveying mistletoe , Tenbury Wells
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Loadsa mistletoe sales
Yesterday I looked up how many people were selling mistletoe in the UK via Facebook Marketplace – and found that there were dozens and dozens of them. Some selling just a small amount, others with a production line of bundles tied with ribbon and a few advertising whole treefuls of mistletoe to anyone willing to come and gather it. The screen shots above and below show just a small sample. I was a little astonished. […]
auctions , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , druids , Food and Drink , Gardening , Mistletoe , Mistletoe Day , Orchard , Religion , social history , Tenbury Wells
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Mistletoe in Parliament
A recent query (in connection with this) about how we got Parliament’s approval for National Mistletoe Day in 2005, and a subsequent search for the relevant references, got me looking at mistletoe in parliament in general. Does it get mentioned often? And in what sort of context? The answer to ‘how often’ is ‘not very’. But the answer to type of context is ‘very variable’ as a search through Hansard, Parliament’s formal record (and allied […]
auctions , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe , Religion , Science , social history , stupidity , Tenbury Wells
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The silly season is upon us – apparently “wokery” could end mistletoe kisses. What a load of tosh.
There’s a story doing the rounds today that “wokery could put an end to kissing under the mistletoe at Christmas”. The comment is attributed to Nick Champion, the mistletoe auctioneer at Tenbury Wells*. He said, apparently, in the context of mistletoe sales not being as good as they once were, that this was due in part to that fact “workers used to kiss under the mistletoe at Christmas parties, but with all the wokery nowadays […]
auctions , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , druids , Gardening , Media , Science , social history
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Mistletoe Season 2024/25
A belated start to the diary this year! A few snippets of info and dates for now, more soon: Dates This year’s Tenbury Mistletoe Festival (and National Mistletoe Day) will be on Saturday 7th December. Details still to be confirmed, for updates see https://www.tenburymistletoe.org/ One definite fixture is the druid mistletoe ceremony at 3.00pm on the Burgage. This year’s Tenbury Mistletoe Auctions will be on Tuesday 26th November and Tuesday 3rd December at Burford House Garden Centre, Burford, Tenbury […]
auctions , berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe
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Mistletoe selling well, in week 2
A quick update to last week’s comments about relatively few mistletoe lots at the Tenbury Wells auctions. Much better this week, as expected, with more many more lots and, to quote Nick Champion (the auctioneer) “mistletoe was more plentiful and still met the best trade seen for years”. So everything’s fine – no need to worry about the mistletoe trade! Meanwhile there’s a lot of attention being paid to the amount and spread of mistletoe […]
auctions , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe , social history , Tenbury Wells
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Missing mistletoe at Tenbury Auctions
The first of the seasonal mistletoe auctions at Tenbury Wells was held on Tuesday this week (second one is next Tuesday, 28th Nov). It featured fewer mistletoe lots than I’ve ever seen at these auctions. I’ve been attending these annually for over 30 years, so it was a surprise, actually quite a shock. Many many holly lots, but very little mistletoe. It’s not completely clear why so little was there. One partial explanation may be […]
auctions , berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , Media , Mistletoe , Mistletoe Day , Science , social history , Tenbury Wells
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Mistletoe time, again – news and updates for 2023/24
A slightly late start to the blog this year – but announcing all the usual stuff; the berries are looking good, whitening up already, mistletoe events are being organised, mistletoe studies are being planned and mistletoe commerce is underway. In events news there are the usual mistletoe auctions at Tenbury Wells – this year on Tuesday 21st and Tuesday 28th November. Details for buyers and sellers are at https://nickchampion.co.uk/auctions/holly-and-mistletoe/ or, if you just want to watch, […]
auctions , berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistle Thrush , Mistletoe , Orchard , Science , social history , Tenbury Wells
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The ‘return’ of the kissing tradition (says the BBC)
A fairly thorough mistletoe feature on prime time TV this week – 4 minutes of it on The One Show on BBC One on 8th December. Richie Anderson, the voice of travel news on BBC R2, but more notorious this year as a flamboyant Strictly Come Dancing contestant, spent a day in north Worcestershire visiting the mistletoe-laden apple orchards at Commonwood Farm and the wholesale mistletoe auctions in Tenbury Wells. The final edit must have […]