A couple kiss under the mistletoe. This custom takes us back through thousands of years into pre-Christian Britain. The significance of the mistletoe for druids was well known to Roman writers. Although its exact meaning remains elusive, clearly the plant was associated with fertility.

In Herefordshire, up until the First World War, bundles of mistletoe were ceremonially burned in the fields on New Year's Eve. The continuing tradition of kissing under the mistletoe (sometimes removing a berry for each kiss) speaks for itself!

Perhaps because of its traditional pagan connections, mistletoe was banned in many churches. Instead, the holly and ivy were granted a place in the carol repertoire. Cecil Sharp, a pioneering collector of English folksong, collected the famous, beautiful Holly and Ivy Carol that is sung today. However, there are many medieval holly and ivy carols which were originally produced to be sung while dancing in a ring. No doubt to the disapproval of some in the church, all of these songs are flirtatious - the Holly being associated with (and sung by) men, and the ivy with women. In many of these dance-songs the two sexes teasingly taunt each other. Here is one verse sung by the men:

Ivy berith beris as black as any slo;
There commeth the woode-colver and fedith her of tho,
She lifteth up her tayll, and she cakkes or she go;
She wold not for a hundred poundes serve Holly so.

A 'colver' is a pigeon - but perhaps we ought to leave the rest in obscurity… No doubt this teasing ended with kisses between the two warring sexes - another sign of traditional good cheer at Christmas.

· The haunting traditional music for Cecil Sharp's Holly and Ivy carol can be found at http://web.syr.edu/~htkeays/morris/hounds/songs/hollyivy.html

· A 15th century French tune can be found at http://www.rememberjosie.org/carols/s7275.asp