We recently had the great pleasure of visiting Henry Weston's Cider factory in Herefordshire and taking part in their annual wassailing ceremony. Being in the heart of cider country, the wassailing tradition there has been going for many, many decades if not hundreds of years.
There are two types of wassailing. This version is concerned with brining luck and a future good harvest to an orchard. A torchlight procession heads into the orchard and a lot of noise is made to scare away any malevolent spirits. Some songs are sung, alcohol (normally cider) is poured onto the base of the Wassail Tree and the participants share a drink of mulled cider from a communal bowl. There are other traditions that include hanging toast from the tree, though we are unsure why!
The Hereford wassail is fun and a wonderful tradition to take part in.
Obviously Cheshire is not in the heart of cider making, but in recent years we have tried to start up our own wassailing tradition in the Wych's Brew orchard. On or about Twelfth Night, we have our own torchlight visit to our orchard and pour some alcohol on the base of a number of chosen fruit trees while saying the words of the Threapwood Wassail:
Come wind and snow,
come rain and sun,
Bear a healthy crop,
Before the years is done.
Here's to thee,
Good apple tree,
Well to bear hatfuls,
Bucketfuls and bottlefuls.
Hurrah!
We have a lovely oversized glass goblet that is our wassail bowl, and we enjoy a drink of mulled cider from it. We do our wassailing on a much smaller scale than in the West Country, but we are still hopeful that we can spread the word and get more orchard owners wassailing. So here's to a great crop in 2025 and wassailing in 2026.
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