Twelfth night may fall on the 5th or 6th January, depending on your beliefs, but the weekend has seen most of us put away our Christmas decorations for another year. I just love to walk or drive around the streets admiring the twinkly lights and, tonight, they are few and far between. It seems a shame that all the light festivals are over when we still have two months of winter to plough through.
With that in mind I have been looking to see what other festivals are on the horizon and, hey presto, the celebration of wassailing is actually today, 5th January. This is a ceremony to bless the fruit trees, particularly apple. Drinking and loud singing to the health of the trees takes place with a Wassail King and Queen leading the procession through the orchards, offering a piece of wassail-soaked toast to the biggest and best tree. This is an offering for a bountiful harvest come the autumn. It is a noisy procession in order to wake the tree spirits and frighten away the evil demons.
This tradition goes back in history but is still carried out in the south of England where orchards are plentiful for Apple and cider production. In these days of trying to cut down on air miles and imports and becoming more environmentally sustainable we should all hope for a bountiful British harvest.
"Wassail" comes from the Old Norse "ves heill" which means "be healthy." That's a good toast for anyone at the start of 2020.
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