Dimanche des Brandons, in French ecclesiastical writers, denotes the first Sunday in Lent, which is thus called on account of an ancient practice in the Lyonnais, where the peasants, in the night of this day, walked about their orchards, gardens, and other places, with torches lighted, or fire-brands in their hands; visiting every tree, addressing them one after another, and threatening that if they did not bear fruit well the ensuing season they should be cut down to the ground and burnt. This is evidently a relic of Paganism, and similar to what was practised by the ancient idolaters in the month of February, called Februarius, a februa.