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Thu 12 Dec 2008An Irishman's Diary
UNLIKE many things we now consider part of the traditional Christmas, the practice of kissing under mistletoe predates the season's reinvention by the English Victorians, writes Frank McNally.
It was already well established by 1827, when John Clare described an amorous shepherd bracing himself to exploit the licence conferred by the magical plant: "The shepherd now no more afraid/ Since custom doth the chance bestow/ Starts up to kiss the giggling maid/ Beneath the branch of mistletoe/ That 'neath each cottage beam is seen."
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