Wassailing – Cold Weather Festivities from the Book of English Folklore

Apparently tied into another popular ritual at this time of year, namely the pre-Christmas singing of carols, wassailing appears to have its roots in Anglo Saxon pagan times. Carol singing is a house visiting version of the popular wassailing treks to crop fields in darkest winter to bless the yield for the coming year.

Derived from old English meaning “be healthy”, wassailing has over latter years moved on the orchards and as a result has a strong following in traditional apple growing parts of the country such as Herefordshire, Devon, Gloucestershire and Somerset.

The old Gregorian calendar plays a part in deciding when wassailing takes place, as tradition determines that it should take place on Twelfth Night (6th January, or more properly the evening of January 5th). However, most people insist on wassailing on 'Old Twelvey Night' (January 17) as that would have been the correct date before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752.

There has been a resurgence in such seasonal celebrations, and wassailing is no exception. Precise customs can vary from place to place and numbers attending can be as high as 300. Wassail kings and queens can be chosen, to be crowned in greenery and seated upon a wooden throne.

Thereafter wassail songs are sung with a cheering welcome to the royal couple. The wassailers collectively make noises to scare away the bad spirits from the trees (shotguns can be used!), and bits of toast are dipped into mulled cider and hung from the branches of the apple tree for the birds before the roots are wetted with a generous spread of cider. A toast is then raised to the Apple Tree Man (apparently the Spirit of The Tree). With so much high spirit and cider flying around, it is difficult to see that the wassailers have any energy left for any more activity, but no, they go on and repeat the whole exercise at another orchard.

With apple crops badly depleted by last year's bad weather, there is all the more reason for wassailers to get out this year and put heart and soul into the festivities.