  Feb. 1.] CANDLEMAS EVE. On Candlemas Eve was kindled the yule-brand, which was allowed to burn till sunset, when it was quenched and carefully laid by to teend (i.e. light) the Christmas clog or log at the next return of the season. Thus Herrick, Hesperides, p. 337, says: “Kindle the Christmas Brand, and then Till sunne-set let it burne; Which quencht, then lay it up agen Till Christmas next returne. Part must be kept wherewith to teend The Christmas Log next yeare; And where ’tis safely kept, the fiend Can do no mischiefe there.” The rosemary, the bay, the ivy, the holly, and the mistletoe, the Christmas decorations of hall and cottage, were now “Down with the Rosemary and so Down with the Baies and the Misleto: Down with the Holly, Ivie, all Wherewith ye dress the Christmas Hall: That so the superstitious find No one least branch there left behind: For look, how many leaves there be Neglected there (maids trust to me), So many goblins you shall see.” Herrick (Hesperides, p. 361). In the place, however, of the Christmas decorations, the “greener box was upraised,” and Christmas now was positively at an end. Some indeed, considered this to have been the case on Twelfth Night, and old Tusser, in his Five Hundred Points of good Husbandry, strongly contends for it; but then his head was more full of the cart and plough than of regard for old customs; and like any other master, he was naturally anxious that the holidays should be ended, and the labourers should get to work again as soon as possible; and merry-making, however agreeable it may be, will not help to dig the land or sow the grain. But in spite of these wise saws, the truth of which nobody would contest, human feelings are stronger than human reason, and customs, when they tend to pleasure, will maintain their ground till they are superseded, not by privations, but by other forms of amusement.—New Curiosities of Literature, Soane, 1847, vol. i. p. 52. The following is from Herrick’s Hesperides, p. 337. “Down with the Rosemary and Bayes, Down with the Misleto; Instead of Holly, now up-raise The greener Box for show. The Holly hitherto did sway, Let Box now domineere, Until the dancing Easter Day, Or Easter’s Eve appeare. Then youthful Box, which now hath grace Your houses to renew, Grown old, surrender must his place Unto the crisped Yew. When Yew is out, then Birch comes in, And many flowers beside; Both of a fresh and fragrant kinne To honour Whitsontide. Green Rushes then, and sweetest Bents, With cooler Oaken boughs, Come in for comely ornaments To re-adorn the house. Thus times do shift; each thing his turne does hold; New things succeed, as former things grow old.” Nottinghamshire.It was at one time customary, in the villages bordering on the Trent, to decorate not only churches but houses with branches of box, and to light up a number of candles in the evening, as being the last day of Christmas rejoicings. “On Candlemas Day throw candles away” is a popular proverb for the following day.—Jour. Arch. Assoc. 1853, vol. viii. p. 231. Ornamental line
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