Wassailing Again

Apologies as I've probably mentioned this nearly every year (shortage of ideas for blog posts every January!)

On Twelfth night in the past there were two distinct types of Wassailing. The first was moving door to door around the village singing and carrying a wassailing bowl and the second was a ceremony taking place in orchards, blessing the trees for a good crop next year.

 Wassail  (From the Norse Waes Hael") means "be healthy" and as farm workers were often paid in cider during the harvest it was important the trees were healthy and produced plenty of fruit......... at one time there were 400 varieties of cider apples and an orchard on every farm with apple trees in every cottage garden.

Around the village they would sing this old traditional song which I've always known, from somewhere...primary school perhaps

Here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green

Here we come a wassailing so fair to be seen

Love and Joy come to you and to you a wassail too

And may God bless you and send you a Happy New Year

And God send you a Happy New Year

God Bless the master of this house and Bless the mistress too,

And all the little children that round the table go,

Love and Joy come to you and to you a wassail too

And may God bless you and send you a Happy New Year

And God send you a Happy New Year

And in the orchards this poem would be chanted while drums were banged, rifles fired through the tree branches, bread soaked in cider laid on the branches of the oldest tree and cider poured on the roots.

Old apple tree we wassail thee
And hoping thou will bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
‘Til apples come another year

For to bear well and to bloom well
So merry let us be
Let every man take off his hat
And shout to the old apple tree

Old apple tree we wassail thee
And hoping thou will bear
Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full
And a little heap under the stair

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Wassailing the apple trees is still happening in parts of the country - specially in the cider orchards of Somerset and Herefordshire and now Morris Dancing sides or Community Orchard Groups have got the tradition re-started in many places. I only know of one in Suffolk, at a country pub with the Old Glory Molly Dancers performing, but a bit too far away for a visit.

This is a book I found a few years ago at a boot sale written by the same people as my Ogham Tree Alphabet book. It's a fascinating look back at traditions - old and new. 

It's also a Full Moon tonight, January full moon is called the  Wolf Moon and is a micro-moon, which is the opposite of a super moon, so the moon will appear smaller than usual at it's furthest point from the earth.

I only need to step across the patio and out onto the lawn to do the Wassailing tonight. Then it's up to nature to do the rest.

Back Tomorrow

Sue