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At
P?turages, in the province of Hainaut, down to about 1840 the custom
was observed under the name of _Escouvion_ or _Scouvion._ Every year
on the first Sunday of Lent, which was called the Day of the Little
Scouvion, young folks and children used to run with lighted torches
through the gardens and orchards. As they ran they cried at the
pitch of their voices:

"Bear apples, bear pears, and cherries all black
To Scouvion!"

At these words the torch-bearer whirled his blazing brand and hurled
it among the branches of the apple-trees, the pear-trees, and the
cherry-trees. The next Sunday was called the Day of the Great
Scouvion, and the same race with lighted torches among the trees of
the orchards was repeated in the afternoon till darkness fell.
In the French department of the Ardennes the whole village used to
dance and sing around the bonfires which were lighted on the first
Sunday in Lent. Here, too, it was the person last married, sometimes
a man and sometimes a woman, who put the match to the fire.


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