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Claire Wallen, a director of Jealott’s Hill Community Landshare, explains a very ‘south of England tradition’ of blessing apple trees to ensure a good harvest with just a touch of ‘weirdness’ thrown in. Join the wassailers in Warfield
Have you heard of traditions that include hanging toast in a tree and shooting a robin? They are just one part of the traditional apple wassail ceremony that dates back to the 16th century. It traditionally occurs on twelfth night, the 5th or 6th of January.
The word wassail is descended from the Anglo Saxon ‘waes hail’ meaning ‘be well’. The ceremony is very much a south of England ritual and was designed to ensure a good apple harvest for the cider makes.
So what does it involve? It’s a bit bonkers, actually. There is singing, a ceremony and cider drinking. The idea is to bless the apple trees and drive away evil spirits in the hope of a bountiful autumn apple harvest.
The ceremony usually starts with singing of traditional songs. Then a holly king and oak king are nominated. A wren, which symbolises the Holly King (who rules to mid-winter), is then hunted down and shot (metaphorically of course) as part of the handover to the Oak King (who rules from mid-winter to mid-summer). The ceremony continues by choosing a Queen of the Bean.
Now comes the really weird part! The robin, which represents the Oak King is the guardian of the trees. The Queen of the Bean buries the poor little robin under a chosen apple tree. Then a piece of toast is placed in the tree and cider poured over the tree roots.
More singing ensues. Then in order to scare away evil spirits everyone starts banging trays and pots, blowing instruments and shouting loudly. Off go the evil spirits. And then it’s time for apple juice and cider drinking.
There has been a bit of a revival in wassailing in recent years and you can find events around Berkshire in January to enjoy this unusual tradition. One of the best ones is held at Jealott’s Hill Community Landshare in Warfield (North Bracknell) which has an apple orchard of over 300 trees, quite rare these days.
Maidenhead Morris group Ellington Morris (Ellington Morris) have carried out the ceremony at Jealott’s Hill for quite a few years. This year the event is on Sunday, 19th January from 1pm. More details via the website, Jealott’s Hill Community Landshare – Jealott’s Hill Community Landshare.
Please do come along and join us for the ceremony – we will have pumpkin soup made with our site grown pumpkins, hot apple cup, home-made cakes and children’s activities – it’s a great thing to do in the depths of winter. And it will help us reap a good harvest.
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