Miniaturization is a very ancient practice, going right back to the Neolithic period, and probably we should not see it as distinctly Celtic. It is even seen in ancient Egyptian tombs, where miniature agricultural tools were left so that food production could go on in the afterlife.
However, an important aspect of Celtic religion was taking objects, animals, or people from the everyday world and transporting them to the Otherworld, and one
Way of doing this was to change the scale. Things could be made unrealistically large or unrealistically small and each type of exaggeration took things into the Otherworld. So, miniaturizing objects made them sacred and sublime. The Celts made models of tools and weapons, and this made them appropriate as votive offerings. Miniature axes and spears were quite common.
MISTLETOE
A strong life symbol, because it is evergreen and bears fruit in the winter. Other evergreens with winter berries such as holly and ivy are also symbolic, and all three have remained highly symbolic as Christmas decorations. All three have their symbolic origins in pre-Christian solstice customs and beliefs, and are therefore all three “pagan plants,” but mistletoe in particular is singled out as being too pagan to hang inside a church.
Mistletoe still retains its strong pagan association, because of the classical description of the Druids and their interest in the plant. Why the Druids attached such great significance to it is not known, though it is possible to guess from some of the plant’s peculiarities. Apart from being evergreen and bearing fruit in winter, mistletoe does not grow on the ground but in the sky: it is a heaven-sent plant. It also perches on the oak tree, the most sacred and heavily symbolic tree as far as the Druids were concerned. They took their name from the Celtic name of the oak tree, duir. The oak is a symbolic door to the Otherworld.
The custom of kissing under the mistletoe is of unknown antiquity. It suggests that somehow mistletoe is associated with sex and fertility. The association of mistletoe with kissing is so well-established that the little “x” mark on the under side of the berry has become the written shorthand for kiss.
In some places in England it is considered unlucky to cut mistletoe at any time other than Christmas. Among its names was All-Heal, because it was thought to cure many different ailments. It was also thought to avert misfortune and even counteract poison.
World History
