Apple Wassail

The Apple Wassail is a traditional form of wassailing practiced in the cider orchards of South West England during the winter. There are many well recorded instances of the Apple Wassail in the early modern period. The possibility exists that they may have descended directly from pagan practices, although it is also possible that they developed independently. The first recorded mention was at Fordwich, Kent, in 1585, by which time groups of young men would go between orchards performing the rite for a reward. The practice was sometimes referred to as “howling”. On Twelfth Night, men would go with their wassail bowl into the orchard and go about the trees. Slices of bread or toast were laid at the roots and sometimes tied to branches. Cider was also poured over the tree roots. The ceremony is said to "bless" the trees to produce a good crop in the forthcoming season.

The modern day Apple Wassail is often used as an excuse to drink vast quantities of cider and party all night.

Traditional Apple Wassail rhymes

"Here's to thee, old apple tree,"
"Whence thou mayst bud"
"And whence thou mayst blow!"
"And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!"
"Hats full! Caps full!"
"Bushel--bushel--sacks full,"
"And my pockets full too! Huzza!" — South Hams of Devon, 1871
"Huzza, Huzza, in our good town"
"The bread shall be white, and the liquor be brown"
"So here my old fellow I drink to thee"
"And the very health of each other tree."
"Well may ye blow, well may ye bear"
"Blossom and fruit both apple and pear."
"So that every bough and every twig"
"May bend with a burden both fair and big"
"May ye bear us and yield us fruit such a stors"
"That the bags and chambers and house run o'er." — Cornworthy, Devon, 1805
"Stand fast root, bear well top"
"Pray the God send us a howling good crop."
"Every twig, apples big."
"Every bough, apples now." — 19th century Sussex, Surrey
"Apple-tree, apple-tree,"
"Bear good fruit,"
"Or down with your top"
"And up with your root." — 19th century S. Hams.
"Bud well, bear well"
"God send you fare well;"
"Every sprig and every spray"
"A bushel of apples next New Year Day." — 19th century Worcestershire
"Here we come a wassailing"
"Among the leaves so green,"
"Here we come a wandering"
"So fair to be seen."
"Love and joy come to you,"
"And to you your wassail too,"
"And God bless you and send you a happy New Year."
"And God send you a happy New Year." — Somerset, 1871

See also

* Wassail
* Wassailing
* Wish Tree

Sources

* http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5567/applewass.html
* "The Stations of the Sun" by Ronald Hutton
* "Christmas Carols New and Old" by Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1871)