It is said in Sheffield, England “A candle or lamp should be left burning all night on Christmas Eve. Unless this is done there will be a death in the house”
Another Christmas superstition was that of decoration, especially in the north of England, in Northumberland. Many superstitions rose up in the area about how long to leave boughs of holly, both in the home and in the church. For many centuries the standard operating procedure was to leave them in place until 2 February (Candlemas) at the home, or else “something evil” would befall one of the senior members of the family. But in the church, practice was far more stringent, with the stipulation that were any of the festive decorations still left in the pews after Candlemas someone in the family that occupied that pew would die, and die soon to boot. Some people were so frightened of this possibility that instead of leaving the cleaning to the church authorities they would send their own servants to clean their pews.