"Viscum" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... new-year gifts, in honor of the goddess Strenia. The same in Poitou and Perche, anciently the country of the Druids, is derived from their rites. For the Poitevins for Etrennes use the word Auguislanneuf, and the Percherons, Equilans, from the ancient cry of the Druids, Au guy l'an neuf, i.e. Ad Viscum, annul novus, or to the mistletoe the new-year, when on new-year's day the Pagans went into the forests to seek the mistletoe on the oaks. See Chatelain, notes on the ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler |
