don't stand under the muérdago

Yesterday there was a general freak-out in the teacher's lounge when one of my coworkers walked in with a branch of this stuff. Whispers of 'Quién te lo ha traído?' and 'No está prohibido?' followed my somewhat proud-looking coworker to her seat. So of course I asked what it was. "Muérdago. Trae buena suerte." Okay. It brings good luck and has a funky name. So I pulled out the dictionary and found out it was...MISTLETOE!

I told them that we kiss under it, then I realized I haven't ever done that or seen it done, since I couldn't even recognize mistletoe when it was right under my nose. That made me realize how many traditions we have that aren't really in practice. Things we say we do, yet only exist in a faraway universe. Santa does not bring coal, and we do not kiss under mistletoe. Except on TV.