The Spectator’s notes | 15 December 2007

Since our parish newsletter does not have a wide circulation, I feel I am justified in plagiarising an article in the latest issue by its nature correspondent (my wife). She provides useful, or anyway, interesting information for Christmas decoration, with the preface that unless you wait until Christmas Eve before hanging up your greenery and be sure to take it down by Epiphany, every leaf will spawn a goblin:

I. Holly. Tradition holds that if the holly you bring in is smooth-leaved, the woman of the house will dominate. If it is prickly, the man will be in charge. The botanical fact, though, is that all berried holly is female. Many believe that it is bad luck to cut down an entire holly (cutting branches is fine). Round us in Sussex, this is said to be because hollies prevent witches from running along the hedge-tops. I knew a woodman once who told me he had cut down a holly in his hedge and found the fuel in his tractor turned to water.