March'd round the altar—to commemorate
How, when their course they from the desert took,
Guided by signs which ne'er the sky forsook,
They lodged in leafy tents and cabins low,
Green boughs were borne."
In A Voyage from Leith to Lapland, 1851, vol. i. p. 132., there is an account of the funeral of the poet Oehlenschläger. The author states,—
"The entire avenue was strewn, according to the old Scandinavian custom, with evergreen boughs of fir, and bunches of fir and box, mingled in some instances with artificial flowers. It is customary at all funerals to strew evergreens before the door of the house where the body lies, but it is only for some very distinguished person indeed they are strewn all the way to the burial place."
Forby, in his East Anglican Vocabulary, says it is a superstitious notion that—
"If you bring yew into the house at Christmas amongst the evergreens used to dress it, you will have a death in the family before the end of the year."
I believe the yew will be found generally on the south side of the church, but always near the principal entrance, easy of access for the procession on Palm Sunday, and perhaps for funerals, and that it was used as a substitute for the palm, and coupled with "the willow from the brook," hence called the palm willow.