Holly in the house
Holly in the house at Christmas was welcome in British lore, but the timing mattered: some families would not carry it in before Christmas Eve, and whether prickly or smooth holly came first was said to decide who ruled the home.
What it may mean
Holly came with a small household contest. In parts of rural England, people sorted it into he holly, the prickly kind, and she holly, the smooth kind, and a contributor near Stroud in Gloucestershire recorded that whichever was taken into the house first decided which sex would be dominant for the year. It is a joke with an edge, the sort of rule said with a grin while someone hurries to the door with the right branch. Behind it sits a real question about who sets the tone at home and how that gets settled. A sprig on the mantel can start a conversation about who actually runs things in your house, and whether everyone is content with the arrangement.
Depending on how you saw it
Not before Christmas Eve
In Ipswich, Suffolk, a contributor learned never to take holly in before Christmas Eve, and an aunt in South Yorkshire kept it out until Christmas Day itself, sure that bad fortune would follow otherwise. What do you save for exactly the right day?
Counting the spikes on a leaf
A woman raised in Bristol in the 1910s told the archive she would pick a holly leaf and count off its spikes to tell whether her mother was calling her. What do you count when you would rather not decide?
Prickly Christmas in Cornwall
In St Ives, the Victorian folklorist Robert Hunt noted that holly was called "prickly Christmas" and that a good sum went on evergreens each year. What name has your household given to something seasonal?
Why it happens in nature
European holly, Ilex aquifolium, has male and female flowers on separate trees, so only female trees bear the red berries, and only after insects carry pollen from a male. Spiny leaves are commonest on young plants and low branches, while leaves higher up the tree are often smooth, which is why a single tree can supply both he and she holly.
What folk beliefs say
England (Gloucestershire)
Near Stroud in Gloucestershire, a contributor recorded in 2013 that prickly holly is he and smooth holly is she, and that whichever is taken into the house first decides which sex is dominant.
Source: Roy Vickery (compiler), Holly (Plant-Lore archive) (n.d.), www.plant-lore.com. View the page
England
In some rural English districts, Daniels and Stevans write, prickly and smooth holly were called he and she holly, and whether the holly brought in for Christmas was rough or smooth decided whether the husband or the wife would rule for the coming year.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 806. View the page
England (Suffolk)
A contributor from Ipswich said in 2011 that you should not take holly into the house before Christmas Eve.
Source: Roy Vickery (compiler), Holly (Plant-Lore archive) (n.d.), www.plant-lore.com. View the page
England (South Yorkshire)
A contributor from Bessacarr, South Yorkshire, said in 1984 that her aunt would not have holly in the house until Christmas Day, believing it brought bad fortune.
Source: Roy Vickery (compiler), Holly (Plant-Lore archive) (n.d.), www.plant-lore.com. View the page
England (Devon)
In Alston, Devon, a contributor said in 2011 that it would bring bad fortune to cut down any holly tree bearing red berries.
Source: Roy Vickery (compiler), Holly (Plant-Lore archive) (n.d.), www.plant-lore.com. View the page
England (Cornwall)
In St Ives, Cornwall, Robert Hunt noted that holly was locally called "prickly Christmas," and that a good sum was spent on holly, bays and laurels to decorate homes, shops and the parish church.
Source: Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, 3rd ed. (1881), p. 393. View the page
To reflect on
In your home, who sets the tone, and how did that come to be decided?