Boxed Alleluias
I once came across the expression, "Boxed Alleluias" during a worship service on the first Sunday in Lent when the children gathered up from the pews paper butterflies bearing the word "Alleluia" and deposited them into a box held by the minister on the altar steps. He then put the lid on the brightly decorated shoe box and placed it underneath the Communion Table. This act accompanied the traditional ban on the word Alleluia or Hallelujah during the Lenten Season in the more liturgical churches. Only on Easter Sunday will the word ring throughout the church in song and recitation. I had first thought this custom as kitschy object lesson for the children, until I came across a more serious version of the same thing on a video of a church where during Mass on the First Sunday in Lent, four altar servers carried a formidable wooden chest out of the sanctuary on two poles like the Levites of ancient Israel carrying the Ark of the Covenant. I never found out any