"From every hedge is plucked by eager hands, The holly-branch with prickly leaves replete,
 And fraught with berries of a crimson hue;

Which torn asunder from its parent trunk, Is straightway taken to the neighbouring towns; Where windows, mantles, candlesticks, and shelves, Quarts, pints, decanters, pipkins, basins, jugs, And other articles of household-ware, The verdant garb confess." The practice of decking houses, churches, all public buildings, and even poles in the street with evergreens on the Christmas Eve is very ancient. Stowe mentions a standard-tree that was torn up at Cornhill by a storm in 1444. His words are worth quoting:

Against the feast of Christmas every man's house, as also the parish churches were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year, afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; amongst the which I read that, in the year 1444, by tempest of thunder and lightning, on the 1st. of February, at night, Paul's steeple was fired, but with great labour quenched; and towards the morning of Candlemas Day, at the Leaden hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree, being set up in midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivy, for disport of Christmas to the people, was torn up, and cast down by the malignant spirit (as was thought), and the stones of the pavement all about were cast in the streets, and into divers houses, so that the people were sore aghast of the great tempests.

We may reasonably doubt of the malignant spirit's interference hinted at in the above passage, but there can be no doubting that the streets, churches, and houses, even the cottages, were dressed with great care. Aubrey states that in several parts of Oxfordshire, particularly at Lanton, it was the custom for the maid-servant to ask the man for ivy to dress the house, and if he refused or neglected to fetch it in, the maids stole away a pair of his breeches and nailed them up to the gate in the yard or highway. A similar custom prevailed in Wiltshire, but there the additional punishment was inflicted, of not being allowed to take any young lady under the mistletoe. The holly, bay, rosemary, and ivy, seem to have been chiefly used, but in some parts, as a rule, the ivy was placed in the windows of all dwelling-houses. In some instances cypress and laurel were used, and most probably any evergreen was welcome. A discussion has been raised with respect to the mistletoe; whether it was allowed to be set up in the churches; and the general opinion of antiquarians seems to be that it was not. It is certain that mistletoe, up to the middle of the last century, was regularly placed upon the altar at York Cathedral; but that may have been a local custom, and cannot be accepted as proof in favour of its being a general rule.

The churchwardens paid for the evergreens which were placed in the churches, but occasionally when flowers could be gathered they were woven by fair hands into garlands and hung, as a free gift, upon the altars. Carols were generally sung in praise of the holly and ivy, of which the following of the 13th century will serve as specimens:

Holly
"Here comes holly that is so gent
To please all men is his intent.
Allelujah!

But lord and lady of this hall,
Whosoever against holly call,
Allelujah!

Whosoever against holly do cry,
In a lope shall be hung full high.
Allelujah!

Whosoever against holly do sing,
He may weep and his hands wring.
Allelujah!"

What a wondrous change when we come to Shakespeare and his song in praise of the green holly which occurs in As you like it.
Ivy however seems to have been a general favourite, for they sang, as a part song:

Ivy
"Ivy is soft and meek of speech, 

Against all bale she is bliss, 

Well is he that may her reach.
Ivy is green, with colours bright,
Of all trees best she is, 

And that I prove will now be right.
Ivy beareth berries black ;
God grant us all his bliss,
For there shall be nothing lack."

In some places a large bunch of various evergreens was made up for the church, and, as a rule, the little sprigs used in modern times would have been very scornfully rejected. Boughs were in request and from various fragmentary notices it may be presumed that these were at one time bound up to imitate a tree. In modern times the Christmas tree has been introduced from Germany, but it is a question for our antiquarians to answer, whether the said tree was not commonly used in England in the 13th century:—not of course covered with trinkets, but as one of the regular Christmas decorations.

But the reasons assigned by various writers for this system of decorating cannot be accepted as satisfactory. The author of Festomm Metropolis says:

So our Churches and Houses, decked with 'Bayes and Eosemary, Holly and Ivy, and other plants which are always green, winter and summer, signify, and put us in mind of his Deity; that the Child that now was born was God and man who should spring up like a tender plant, should always be green and flourishing, and live for evermore. Therefore thus the Spouse entertains her Beloved whose bed is always green, Cant. 1, 6, and shews Jesus Christ to be yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

We give this author credit for having believed that the evergreens were used in the sense he suggests, but feel certain that not one out of every hundred of his contemporaries would have thus explained the matter. Unto him they symbolised the ideas he names, but a contrary series unto others.

There seem to be very good reasons for questioning the assertion of Brady, that the custom was chiefly adopted from the Hebrews. He observes that, as the first Christians were nearly all Hebrews they ornamented their churches at the Feast of Tabernacles, in honour of the birth of Christ, which they believed to have taken place at that season, the month of Tizei (October). That is to say, they preserved the decorating festival, but employed it for another purpose. Still, however, the difficulty exists with regard to how the decorating in December could be associated with that of October. We can understand that the Hebrew converts decorated, as formerly, in October, but they were not sufficiently influential, not numerous enough, to introduce a custom to be observed in December, or January, by the Gentiles.

Polydore Virgil says that, the decorating of temples with hangings of flowers, boughs, and garlands was adopted from the pagan nations who decked their houses and temples in a similar manner and this appears to be much nearer the truth than what Brady assumes. It is certain that several of the early Councils ordered that the converts should not decorate their houses with bay-leaves and green branches of trees, which is a clear indication that among the unconverted such practices prevailed. It is stated by Dr. Chandler, as quoted by Brand, that where Druidism prevailed, the houses were decked with evergreens in December,

that the sylvan spirits might repair to them and remain unnipped by the frost and the cold winds until a milder season had renewed the foliage of their darling abodes. Thus the good spirits were to be housed and warmed by man during the winter season, and were to protect him from harm during the remainder of the year.

It is a plausible explanation, for such ideas were very likely to be entertained by the early people; but it is, at most, only a conjecture, which cannot now be submitted to any legitimate court for decision. The assumption that this decoration is derived from the old Bacchic festivals has a great deal in its favour, but the question of time suggests a difficulty, it is not the proper season. All we know of the matter is, that the Romans and Scandinavians used such decorations at this season of the year, and that the practice was continued by Christians, merely, we presume, as a custom with which habit had rendered them familiar, and as an excuse for making merry.

FROM: The Christmas book: Christmas in the olden time, its customs and their origin : the holly and ivy, sports of the eve, Yule log, boar's head, the dinner, mummers, Lord of Misrule, Saturnalia, carols, mysteries and plays, boxes, &c. &c

IMAGE courtesy of FLickr user Dru! and cc.