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Short Stuff: Why is holly a holiday thing? · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: there's Chuck and it's ho ho short stuff. You're on
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: short Stuff.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: That's right. We're stealing one potential thing from our Christmas
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: episode just to do a Christmas style shorty to get
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: in the spirit of things. And we're gonna be talking
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: about holly today. Like you know, the plant, it's a shrub,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: it can be a tree. It's in North America, it's
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: in Asia, it's in Europe. There are a lot of
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: different species and like I said, some can be little, short,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: shorty shrubs. Some can be big old trees. But everyone
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: knows holly for those waxy leaves that will draw blood
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: and those little crimson berries that grow on them.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. But there's something about holly that I did not
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: know until I was studying was that they bloom in
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the spring and early summer. Have you ever seen a
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: holly plant bloom white flowers?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I My dirty secret is I don't
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: love holly just because it's so pointy and sharp. It's
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: almost like a thorn bush, you know.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I have a big old holly tree outside the
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: house and oh yeah, it was getting a little thin,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: so I've started to fertilize it twice a year, and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: it is not fun to get under there and fertilize
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the holly. Yeah, that's no good, but it is pretty.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: And I love all the berries, and I love the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: birds coming to eat the berries, and I love that
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the birds love that. I love the birds coming to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: eat the berries, and so on and so forth. So
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I do have a special place in my heart for holly.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll go for the most boring part of this all,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: which is root words holly. It's a Christmas thing, obviously,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: but it didn't come from the word holy, which you
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: may be surprised about. I wasn't. Old English will translate
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: it as holigan nice Old Norse, holf nice, Dutch, holste
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: nice French. What would that be, frenchie hoo hoo nice,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: sound like you from Philly hagey. And then Welsh is
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: a sealin and.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Think that's how you say that, But how you say
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I have no idea. There's only like ten people who
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: can pronounce Welsh German.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I know this one is stech Palmer.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that one.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: But it all probably comes from Proto Indo European languages
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: at the base which is q e l, which means
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: prickly or too prick.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. End of root word segment.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, wake up everyone.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: So one thing I didn't know is apparently in long
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: standing tradition because this is Holly's another great example of
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: how you associate with Christmas. Christians have kind of adopted
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: it with their own kind of symbolism associated with it,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: but it goes back way further than that, and it's
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: kind of from all over the place because holly grows
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: in not just Europe, not just North America, but Asia
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: as well. It's a really well traveled, well trod shrub.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah that because it stands out so much in winter.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: It's usually evergreen. Those leaves are unmistakable. The berries are
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: just so bright red against like a snowy background. Yeah,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: it does make a lot of sense that cultures from
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: around the world and over the course of time would
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: have been like that. I'm going to drape a bunch
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: of symbolism on that plant.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I think a lot of times it's
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: associated through like ancient cultures, with good luck, in this case,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: good luck for men specifically, because for good luck for women,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: ivy is that counterpart and if you've ever heard the
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: English Christmas carol, the Holly and the Ivy, that's what
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: they're talking about. Yeah, it is again a sacred plant
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: from the Druids. A lot of cultures thought it was
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: like good luck to put it in your house because
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: it's hardy and strong, and again those bright red colors
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: when it's harsh outside means it's got to be good
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: luck to put it on your house. But it gets
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: even more specific sometimes that it'll ward off lightning and
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: lightning storm. Pretty cool, it'll protect your house. If you
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: were in Rome, they would associate it with Saturn, so
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: it obviously came about during their Saturnalia festival, a.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Lot which has a huge influence on Christmas. That was
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the Romans mid to late December winter festival. Yeah, so
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: they used holly and then when the Christians came around,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the Romans were like, you're not allowed to use holly
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: for your Christmas celebration whatever that is. Yeah, it was
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: banned apparently at least at first. And then, like you said,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the Druids also had their own thing going on too,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: So this is all happening at different times. I mean,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the Romans would have been celebrating Saturnalia, while the Druids
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: would have been celebrating their own thing. I don't know
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: that one influenced the other. Yeah, I know that they
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: were connected via Rome at one point in time, But
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I feel like the druids celebration and use of holly
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: in the wintertime was contemporaneous and not influenced by the Romans.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: It could be wrong, though, all Right, I bet someone knows.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd love to know.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: You did mention some Christian symbolism. You know, anytime you
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: see anything red, generally in Christianity, that's going to symbolize
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the blood of Christ from the crucifixion. You know, the
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: legend was that those berries were white, but then Christ's
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: blood stained them red as a reminder. And then the
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: pointed you know, the pointy points that I hate so much,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: symbolized the crown of thorns during the Crucifixion, and in fact,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: in German it is known as Christ's storn or Christ's thorn.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: So that's pretty obvious.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Should we take a break?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah? We should?
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: All right, enough of that, let's talk after the break
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: about the plant itself. Right after this.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, Chuck, you made a lot of big promises about
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: talking about the holly plant itself before the break, and
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I feel like we have to deliver on them.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean it's generally an evergreen, but not always.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: It can also be deciduous.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Which is kind of weird. Yeah, how was that it?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all I got.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: The most of them are evergreen, though, like I said,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: around the world, which is why people are like, I
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: really like that plant in wintertime. I guess that they
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: are good in shade, they're good in sunlight. They do
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: like well drained soil, and they are either a male
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: plant or a female plant, which means they're dioecious. Yeah, yeah, dioecious.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I nailed it. And the male plants and the female
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: plants both flour, which is how they pollinate. But only
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the female plants are the ones that produce berries.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: That's right. And you know they need to be close
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: to one another obviously for that production to occur, so
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: the male plant has to be near enough to a
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: female plant. Sure that pollination happens thanks to our little
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: bee friends, and also, as it turns out, well, not
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: cross pollination, but as far as you know, spreading that seed,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: that's thanks mostly to birds obviously.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Well yeah, the birds like to eat the berries with
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the four seeds in them, and they go poop them out,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and a new holly plant grows. Have you ever looked
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: down and seen a little holly plant sticking up out
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: of the ground.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I stomp that thing out.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: That means that had a bird poop there at some point.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd never thought of it that way. I can
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: only think of it that way from now on, though.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's true. There's really no other way
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: to look.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: At You know, who doesn't like to eat those red
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: berries humans? Because it's no good for you. It's toxic
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: to us. I mean, I don't know if it could kill,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: you'd probably have to eat a ton of those, and
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: you'd probably be vomiting long before you died, such that
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: you would say, hey, maybe don't eat those. But yeah, nausea, bad,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: bad stomach ache. So don't eat those red berries, which
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: is you know, big for kids, because when you see
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: that red berry in your kid, it looks like something
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: you should pick off and eat.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: It does for sure. Yeah. There's an old druid legend
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: that if you eat a holly berry it'll upset your
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: stomach pretty good. There's also I had not heard of this,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: but there's something called birdline that you can make by
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: boiling the bark of a holly tree specifically, and it
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: makes the sticky substance that you can then take and
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: like paint onto the limbs of say a holly tree
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: or any treesy and it's so sticky it'll trap small
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: birds that alight on those limbs. I guess the only
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: reason you would want to do this if you want
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: to capture a bird, which you shouldn't be doing anyway.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: But if you don't get to a bird in time,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the bird will starve to death. It's that sticky and
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: holds that fast. So it's illegal actually in some countries.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: So please don't start making birdline because you heard about
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: it on this episode.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: No, don't do that, But what you could do if
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you're into carving things. Apparently the holly's wood is very hard,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: great for carving, and a lot of chess pieces can
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: be made out of Hollywood because Hollywood, which I think
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: is kind of cool. Because I my friend have started
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: playing chess for the first time since probably high school,
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: because Ruby is in chess club and she's asked me
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: to play chess with her, so we've been playing every night,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: and it's having a ball playing chess with her?
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Is that why you picked this episode?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: No, it's not why, but it's pretty interesting because I
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: was played. I dabbled in chess in high school. I
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: was never good or learned any strategy or technique or
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: took any classes or clubs. So it's all just intuition.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: And so I'm basically at the point where she is
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: at ten years old and her kind of learning strategy
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: a little bit, and so we're like pretty evenly matched,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: and it's just a lot of fun. Like I'm it's
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: opening brain pathways that I'd like, strategical pathways that aren't
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: tapped into very much for me. So I'm really digging it.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: And for Christmas, I already threw down in like a
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: really nice handcarved chest set for us as a little surprise.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: That's cool. How'd she get into chess?
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Just chess club at school she signed up for I
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: have no idea why. Probably some boy was in it
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: that she had a crush on, would be my guess.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Has she She's like this is gonna make a bow
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: tie spin? When I joined, I think so? Has she
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: seen the Queen's gambit yet.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: No, I don't know how much you get into that, Yett.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I bet searching for Bobby Fisher could be a good
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: one though, for her.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we'll start with that. Make sure she
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: seems the queen's gambit at some point.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: One other thing you can do with Hollywood, because it's
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: so dense and sturdy, is to create a walking stick
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: out of it. Oh and if you carve a walking
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: stick out of Hollywood and there's not a druid on
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the end, throw it away and start over because you
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: did it wrong.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: That sounds tad right.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: You got anything else?
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: I got nothing else?
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, everybody? Then that means this happy Holiday edition of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: short Stuff is out.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.