Page:Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern.djvu/69

 Croker, in his “Researches in the South of Ireland,” (p. 233,) mentions a custom on St. Stephen’s Day for the young villagers to carry about from house to house a holly bush adorned with ribbons, having many wrens depending from it, the “Wren boys” chaunting several verses, the burthen of which may be collected from the following lines of their song

A small piece of money is usually bestowed on them, and the evening concludes with merrymaking.

Childermas, or Innocents’ Day as is well known, is in commemoration of the slaughter of the children at Bethlehem by command of Herod, and therefore considered a day of unlucky omen; and the day of the week on which it fell was thought unpropitious throughout the year. Brand mentions a custom in Catholic countries on this day, “to run through all the rooms of a house, making a pretended search in and under the beds, in memory of the search made by Herod for the discovery and destruction of the child Jesus, and his having been imposed upon and deceived by the Wise Men, who, contrary to his orders and expectation, ‘ returned to their own country another way.’”