By Isla Quinn
Pale green. White berries. A smell like cut stems and cold air. In the weeks before Christmas, a market town in Worcestershire sells mistletoe the way other places sell sheep: in lots, on a Tuesday, to the highest bidder.
The town
Wikipedia describes Tenbury Wells as a market town and civil parish in the north-west of Malvern Hills District, Worcestershire, six miles south-east of Ludlow, on the south bank of the River Teme. It says the town is known nationally for its winter auctions of holly, mistletoe and other Christmas products, and that this has gone on for more than 100 years.
What the plant is
Wikipedia’s article on European mistletoe calls it a hemiparasite: it draws water and nutrients from its host tree. It grows in the crowns of broad-leaved trees, especially apple, lime, hawthorn and poplar. The fruit is a white or yellow berry, usually with one seed in sticky pulp. Britannica describes mistletoes more broadly as semiparasitic plants “often associated with Christmas”, and says they can be pests of many ornamental, timber and crop trees.
A travel magazine, British Heritage, says mistletoe “likes the cool and damp” and that berries appear only on female plants.
How the sale works
The Countryside Alliance, a rural campaigning body, reported in December 2021 on the holly and mistletoe auction at Tenbury. The sale was held in the town’s cattle market until 2004 and has since moved to a garden centre. It describes mistletoe sold in bundles of around 10 to 15 kilograms lying on plastic sheets, with florists, farm shops and garden centres the main buyers, and between 100 and 120 registered buyers at the main sale. For 2019 it counts nearly 1,000 lots of mistletoe and some 3,000 wreaths of holly. The 2020 sale did not run because of lockdown.
On where the plant comes from, the same article says mistletoe is mostly seen on “the apple trees so prevalent in the Marches”, and on poplars and willows too. It says the holly comes mainly from Worcestershire, with some from Shropshire and Herefordshire.
The blogger who attended describes an auctioneer moving along rows of wreaths, holly and mistletoe, and sellers’ names and addresses written on the tags of each lot. She says many buyers were from florists and garden centres, with some small Christmas tree sellers, and some had travelled from Cork. That is one visit in 2014, and we do not treat it as a picture of every year.
How old is the sale?
Wikipedia says the sales have gone on for more than 100 years. The auction firm’s own page says some 160 years. No page we read gives a first-sale date or a record.
When
The sales are usually held on Tuesdays in late November and early December. Check the auction organiser’s own site for this year’s dates and for buyer registration. The sale is a trade event.
The festival
British Heritage says the town also holds a Mistletoe Festival in early December. Dates and programme change each year, so check the town’s own listings before you plan a visit.
The kiss
Wikipedia says the earliest documented evidence of kissing under mistletoe dates from sixteenth-century England, that a newspaper advertisement of 1808 alluded to it, and that Washington Irving described it in 1820. British Heritage cites Irving’s account as 1821, saying the young men “have the privilege of kissing the girls under it”. One year apart, same writer. We show both.
Dates in order
- 16th century: earliest documented kissing custom, according to Wikipedia.
- 1808: a newspaper advertisement alludes to it, according to Wikipedia.
- 1820 or 1821: Irving’s account, according to Wikipedia and British Heritage respectively.
- 2004: auction leaves the cattle market, according to the Countryside Alliance.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia and Britannica are encyclopaedias. The Countryside Alliance is a campaigning organisation. The auction firm’s page is promotional. British Heritage is a travel publication and the visitor’s blog is a personal account from 2014. We read no tourism board page and no grower’s association.
Questions a buyer would ask
Where did the mistletoe grow, and on what tree? Are berries still on the stems? Was it cut this season? Who sold it, and was it bought at an auction or direct? We found no care, price or storage advice in the pages we read and give none.
What we left out
We left out the claims about who picks the mistletoe, because the one source is a quotation from an auctioneer and says nothing about conditions. We left out the folklore about ancient priests, because the pages we read gave no source for it. We left out flood history for the town and every price.
Quick answers
Where is the Tenbury mistletoe auction? Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, according to Wikipedia and the Countryside Alliance.
When is the mistletoe auction? Usually on Tuesdays in late November and early December. Check the auction organiser’s site for this year’s dates.
What trees does mistletoe grow on? Wikipedia says especially apple, lime, hawthorn and poplar, and the Countryside Alliance says mostly apple in the Marches.
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Roam first. Shop later.