A Torch Brandon (Lat. Fax)

A Torch Brandon (Lat. Fax)

Brandon (Lat. Fax), A Torch

(Le Dimanche des Brandons, Dominica in Brandonibus), is a popular name in France for the first Sunday in Lent, so called from the custom, at one time common in many places, for the peasants and others on that night to carry lighted torches and candles through their gardens and vineyards, threatening to cut down and burn the trees if they did not bear fruit in the coming year. At Lyons the people on this Sunday used also to fetch green branches, to which they attached fruit, cakes, etc., and which were also called Brandons.