Ashen faggot

Ashen faggot

The ashen faggot (sometimes called ashton fagot) is an old English Christmas tradition from Devon and Somerset, similar to that of the Yule log and related to the wassail tradition. The wassail party passes around a bundle of ash sticks, twigs or branches—the ashen faggot—bound with green ash withies, which is then placed onto the fire. As each binding bursts, the watchers toast it with a drink. Some traditions had the unmarried women each choosing a withy, and the first one whose tie snapped would be married the next year.

When the bindings have all burst and the bundle has fallen loose, each person who plans to host the festivities next year takes one of the half-burned ash sticks and saves it until the following Christmas, when it will go in the center of their own ashen faggot. The tradition endures (or has been resurrected) in many places; according to an article in the Winter 2005 issue of "Devon Talk", the Harbour Inn in Axmouth annually builds an ashen faggot six feet high and three feet wide for their huge pub fireplace.

Some traditions held that not burning the ashen faggot in your house brought bad luck, or that having an ashen faggot in the house kept the Devil away. Ash was likely chosen because the ash tree has a long pedigree of magical associations: perhaps the most important is the Yggdrasil of Norse mythology, also known as the World Ash Tree.

References

* [http://www.wassailgames.com/whywassail.html House Wassailing]
* [http://www.devon.gov.uk/devontalk-winter05-p12-13.pdf Devon Talk, Winter 2005] (pdf format, requires Adobe Reader)

External links

* [http://www.wassailgames.com Wassail Games Online]
* [http://www.fridgemagnet.org.uk/audio/2004_12_23_faggot/ Burning of the Ashen Faggot songs] (MP3 format]

ee also

*Wassail
*Ash tree#cultural aspects


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • ashen faggot —    Reported only from the West Country, this was similar to the *Yule Log custom in that the faggot was brought in with some ceremony and laid on the fire on Christmas Eve, but it was made of smaller ash sticks bound into a faggot with strips of… …   A Dictionary of English folklore

  • Faggot — or fagot may refer to:* Faggot (slang), a pejorative for a homosexual or effeminate man used mainly in North America * Faggot (food), a British meatball commonly made of pork offal * Faggot (volume), an archaic unit of measurement for bundles of… …   Wikipedia

  • Yule log — For other uses, see Yule log (disambiguation). An illustration of people collecting a yule log from Chambers Book of Days (1832) p. 736 A Yule log is a large and extremely hard log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or… …   Wikipedia

  • Dunster — For other uses, see Dunster (disambiguation). Coordinates: 51°10′57″N 3°26′45″W / 51.1825°N 3.4459°W / 51.1825; 3.4459 …   Wikipedia

  • ash — (tree)    A traditional cure, recorded in several counties, for young children with hernias; an ash sapling, preferably one grown from seed and never touched by a knife, was split down the middle and held open with wedges, the child was passed… …   A Dictionary of English folklore

  • Christmas —    By far the most popular festival in England today, imposing itself even on those whose religious or political beliefs would normally rule out Christian celebrations; the greatest pressure is to conform for the sake of the children, who are… …   A Dictionary of English folklore

  • Christmas superstitions —    Most regional collections report a belief that at midnight on Christmas Eve cattle kneel to welcome the Holy Child, and bees buzz, or hum the Hundredth Psalm (e.g. Harland and Wilkinson, 1882: 253). During this night *cocks crow, and the… …   A Dictionary of English folklore

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”