times the revels were frequently extended to a later day. In Herrick’s time the 7th of January, St. Distaff’s-day, as he calls it, was considered the last day, it being thought judicious probably to allow a kind of idle day to intervene between the sports of Twelfth-day and the full return of labour, for he says,
Partly work and partly play
Ye must on S. Distaff’s-day;
*****Give S. Distaffe all the right,
Then bid Christmas sport good night;
And next morrow, every one
To his own vocation.[1]
All semblance of Christmas, however, was not finally discarded until the 2nd of February, Candlemas-day, or the Purification of the Virgin; and at present the evergreens in churches are frequently kept up until Lent. According to Herrick, the evergreens should be taken down in houses on Candlemas-day—
Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the baies and misletoe;
Down with the holly, ivie, all
Wherewith ye drest the Christmas hail;
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[2]
It was also the custom to burn the Christmas log for this day, taking care to preserve a fragment to kindle the log of the following Christmas.
Kindle the Christmas brand, and then
Till sunne—set let it burne;
Which queucht, then lay it up agen)
Till Christmas next returne.
