Wassail, The words comes from the Anglo Saxon 'was hael' meaning good health - literally 'be whole'. Ella Leather in 'The Folk-lore of Herefordshire' (published 1912) refers to the custom of lighting bonfires on Twelfth Night, with associated ceremonies, and called locally 'wassailing'. She quotes the Gentleman's Magazine (1791) describing the event. In Herefordshire, wassailing has long been associated with morris dancers and mummers, & The Leominster Morris uphold this tradition.
The Wassail was the first event we revived after the side was re-formed in 1983. That first Herefordshire Wassail of the new era took place in the orchard of Sandy & Eileen Thompson at Tudor House, Yarpole.
The Wassail begins by gathering at a given watering hole, where flaming torches are prepared & distributed to the public, & whence the side leads the crowd of followers (usually about 200) to the orchard. Toast is soaked in cider, then placed in the fork of the tree chosen to represent the orchard. Cider is then sprinkled about the roots of the tree. Next, the Herefordshire Lantern is ignited: this is a beribboned thorn-cage stuffed with straw on a pole. It represents the sun reborn, and shows why this ancient ceremony took place at this time of year. At the midwinter, the coldest & darkest part of the year, people encouraged the return of light & warmth, and by so doing they performed an affirmation of their faith that it would be so. Next, the 13th fire is lit and immediately stamped out; the Fire of Eternal Renewal or the Judas Fire. This is the sign for the simultaneous lighting of the ring of twelve fires, The Wassail Song is sung by The Leominster Morris under the branches of the tree and two or three dances danced there too.
The we all go back in procession to the meeting place where The Leominster Morris perform the Mummers Play. The text for which is taken from several local sources, and enlivened by individual members adding topical references or variations to their parts. More dances follow, then it is in to the bar for music, song, dance and drink!
An old rhyme goes: "Wassaile the trees, that they may beare / You many a Plum and many a Peare: / For more or lesse fruits they will bring, / As you do give them Wassailing."
The purpose of wassailing is to awake the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the Autumn.{"England In Particular", Common Ground 2007} The ceremonies of each wassail varies from village to village but they generally all have the same core elements. A wassail King and Queen to lead the proceedings, and song and/or a processional tune to be played/sung from one orchard to the next, the wassail Queen will be lifted up into the boughs of the tree where she will place toast that has been soaked in Wassail from the Clayen Cup as a gift the tree spirits and to show them the fruits of what they created the previous year. Then an incantation is usually recited such as
Here's to thee, old apple tree, That blooms well, bears well. Hats full, caps full, Three bushel bags full, An' all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!
Then the assembled crowd will sing and shout and bang drums and pots & pans and generally make a terrible racket until the gunsmen give a great final volley through the branches to make sure the work is done and then off to the next orchard. Perhaps unbeknown to the general public, this ancient English tradition is still very much thriving today. The West Country is the most famous and largest cider producing region of the country and some of the most important wassails are held in Carhampton (Somerset) and Whimple (Devon).
Private readings about people in Somerset in the 1800s revealed that inhabitants of Somerset practiced the old Wassailing Ceremoney, singing the following lyrics after drinking the cider until they were "merry and gay:"
"Apple tree, apple tree, we all come to wassail thee, Bear this year and next year to bloom and to blow, Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sack fills, Hip, Hip, Hip, hurrah, Holler biys, holler hurrah."
Source: "Remininiscences of Life in the parish of Street, Somersetshire dated 1909 at pages 25-26 written by an "old inhabitant" William Pursey of Street 1836-1919.This is the art of wassail.
Source: http://www.leominstermorris.co.uk/
