Wassail

[agapanthus1979]

Me and th'other half like old traditions and ways.
We've planted some fruit trees this year and would like to wassail them.
Can anyone tell us how??
Thanks,
Ags

It mostly involves singing and drinking so not that hard! Look up the Gloucester Wassail for lyrics.

found this online

Oh I forgotten as I haven’t done this since I was a kid. You tie toast to the branches. Not sure why.

Toast, drink, and singing?!?! I might just have found my place in life....
Real ale drinkers here. Does that work, or should it be cider?

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but I know of a farmer who carries out what he claims is an ancient tradition whenever he plants in the orchard.

Plant tree, retreat five paces, turn to tree and shout 'grow, you bugger'.

I LOVE that, FreezerBird!!

I go wassailing every year. We march through the orchard banging saucepans and singing. We wake the trees and feed them, burn a willow effigy and then have a ceilidh and soup. I love it.

We process around our tree banging saucepans and generally making a lot of noise. Then dh recites a poem at the tree and then we all throw bread that we have dipped in cider at it.
then we go to bed and forget about the bread which the dog then joyfully eats the next day

Wassail is all about incantation, libation and drinking!
It takes place on 17th January, what would have been Twelfth Night in the old pre-Gregorian calendar.

Mulled cider is a must, drink some your self and pour some around the roots of your tree. A bit of dancing is fun, loud noises of drum types, singing one of the various songs and or saying a blessing. Friends of mine wear decorated hats for it, but I don't think that's compulsory.

Do a bit of research, there might be something typical to your area. What ever you do, have fun!
Love and joy come to you!

We wassail most years.

Drink some cider.
Pass around pieces of cake; the person who gets the piece with the whole nut is the king/queen.
Find the oldest apple tree in the orchard.
The king/queen buries a wooden model of a wren in the roots of the tree.
Everyone dips pieces of toast in some cider and hangs them in the branches.
Bang pots and pans to make a lot of noise.
Sing a wassailing song (or two).
Drink more cider.

One year there was a bit where some druids said stuff, but that seems to be optional.

Often people wear brightly coloured hats, sometimes with bells and/or lights on them. Occasionally people dress up and/or wear face paint e.g. Green Man.

Bloody loving this!

Real ale drinkers here. Does that work, or should it be cider?

In the pub before and afterwards, you can drink as much real ale as you want.

The TheFirst

We do it in our local park. It’s always freezing but there is always hot apple cider, soup and some kind of poem and saucepan ritual.

We've only got a couple of trees, but I really want to honour Mother Nature.
Whilst we're all here, can anyone recommend any reading etc where I could learn more about such things?

Wassailing does vary by region, so you could try to find out what the tradition is in your area. Might be easier if you're in a traditional orchard growing area like Herefordshire. (Although there might be incredibly localised traditions there, varying even between villages).

Try googling folklore wassail or something like that.

If you are in Herefordshire, you want Ella Mary Leather.

This is from a book I have about feast days.

This is all great. Thank you!

If you're going to do it, tonight's the night.