Keeping Pagan Traditions Alive and Well

In the cider making counties of England, such as Somerset, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, the most curious tradition of wassailing happens around Twelfth Night each year.

The word ‘wassail’ is believed to originate from the old Norse ‘ves heill’ meaning ‘good health’. The tradition of wassailing pre-dates Christianity, and is still celebrated today, in different forms.

Mirth and merriment

One form of wassailing saw local villagers blacken their faces with soot, so the local landowners and gentry couldn’t recognise them on this evening of mirth and merriment. They would fill a wassail bowl, a large sharing vessel with three handles, with a mixture of hot ale or cider, roasted apples, beaten egg and spices.

The wassail bowl was taken door to door around the village accompanied by singing, revelry and excess. The drink was offered in exchange for gifts and coins and a blessing of good health and fortune. The song ‘Here we come a wassailing’ still sung to this day, documents this exchange;

“we are not daily beggars that beg from door to door, But we are friendly neighbours whom you have seen before.”

The lord of the manor would give food and drink to his serfs in exchange for their blessing and goodwill which would be given by song;

“Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
a Happy New Year”

This tradition has given way to door-to-door carol singing and trick or treating, but in some old pubs, museums and antique fairs you can sometimes find these curious three handled wassail cups.

Toasting good health for the year ahead

The wassailing that is still practised today, takes place in orchards and is a blessing for the good health of the orchard and trees for the year ahead. There is of course plenty of cider consumed, dancing from Morris dancers and noise made from pots and pans and muskets to scare away bad spirits from the trees.

The largest strongest tree in the orchard is chosen as the ‘king tree’ and all the villagers  will circle it singing traditional wassail songs. Cider will be thrown on its roots and cider drenched toast hung in its branches, the toast an offering to the robin, the guardian of the orchard who looks after the trees.

In fact, when we make a toast at a ceremony or wedding, this is where the custom originates!

The loss of ancient orchards

Before industrialisation, every farm had an orchard, and here in the Severn Vale the fertile soil was perfect for fruit trees to grow and thrive. A study of local land use*, comparing 1973 and 2012 maps discovered that orchard habitat had reduced by a huge amount, 70% in 40 years, as farmers were incentivised to pull up their trees, in favour of more modern farming practices.

Local varieties of fruit tree were under threat of disappearing completely, such as the wonderfully named; Arlingham Schoolboys, Elmore Pippin, Longney Russet and Gillyflower of Gloucester. Luckily, specimens survived and are now held in museum orchards and by specialist growers around the country.

Orchards provide a wonderful habitat, not just for fruits trees but all the wildlife that calls an orchard home such as the threatened noble chafer beetle and lesser spotted woodpecker.

The Gloucester Old Spot pig is reputed to have earned its spots from falling apples as it foraged for food in orchards!

Here at Elmore, we have replanted three traditional orchards on the estate; Perch Orchard, Groundless Pool Orchard and Golden’s Orchard, approximately 3.47 hectares, with traditional varieties of fruit tree. There is a mix of heritage varieties with the most wonderous of names such as; Marjorie’s Seedling, Ashmeads Kernel, Laxton’s Superb, Peasgood’s Nonsuch and Ribston’s Pippin. In 2013, owner of the Elmore Estate, Anselm Guise, planted the eponymous Elmore Pippin, to commemorate when the Gillyflower was built.

Elmore Court has a long tradition of revelry and celebration, perhaps we should start our own wassail?

*references:

State of Nature Report 2012, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust

Gloucestershire Orchards ​​​​​glosorchards.org