Holly, Yew and Box 



for decorative purposes on the anniversaries of 

 religious festivals. Although it is now the 

 practice to use various popular evergreens in- 

 discriminately for house and church decorations 

 at various seasons, each one appears to have had 

 its own particular period for use in the past, thus, 

 whilst the Holly was undeniably the correct 

 subject to use at Christmas time, and the Yew 

 for Palm Sunday and Easter, the proper time to 

 decorate with branches of Box was from Candle- 

 mas to Palm Sunday or Easter Eve. 



Herrick refers to many of these old customs, 

 and with reference to the Box says : " It was 

 once a time-honoured custom on Candlemas-day 

 to replace the Christmas evergreens with sprays 

 of Box, which were kept up till Easter Eve, when 

 they gave place to the Yew. This custom evi- 

 dently gave rise to the following lines : 



11 Down with the Rosemary and Bays, 



Down with the Mistletoe ; 

 Instead of Holly now upraise 

 The greener Box for show." 



It appears, however, to have been used in 

 some places for Easter decorations, and has been 

 assigned, with various other plants, the name 

 of Palm, through Palm Sunday associations. 

 Writers state that a custom prevails in some 

 parts of France of decorating graves with Box 

 on Palm Sunday. This custom may have arisen 



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