Wassail your way through January

Where to go and when to join in this ancient tradition in Herefordshire.

When the New Year celebrations are over, Herefordshire’s cidermakers have another unique seasonal tradition up their sleeves; Wassailing!

As the UK’s biggest cider producing region, generating over half of the country’s 700 million litres of annual cider, and home to two of the biggest and most well-known cider maker in the world, Bulmers and Westons, these events are particularly prevalent in Herefordshire.

Wassailing is the ancient tradition of blessing the orchards, the apple and pear trees, with singing and dancing by the light of burning torches to encourage fruitfulness and bounty in the year ahead. The word itself originates from “waes hael”, meaning ‘be healthy’ in both Old English and Old Norse.

Traditionally a Wassail is held on Twelfth night; the evening of 5^th January, though some celebrate on ‘Old Twelvey Night’ on 17^th January, and even in between.

This Anglo-Saxon custom is said to date back many centuries and has evolved to be a real family event in those dark January days. Some say it was the original version of carol singing where people door knocked houses, accompanied by a large wooden wassail bowl. Each region in England had its own traditional ‘wassailing songs’, with the universal theme: to bid good health to neighbours, friends, ‘kin and kinsfolk,’ and all the farm animals, horses, dogs, and apple trees within the village. In the spirit of sharing, all who put something into the communal bowl will draw something positive out when they drink their draft of it. A toast of Wassail followed to wish all the best for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

Today, Wassailing celebrations vary, but typically involve a lively, torch-lit procession to the orchard, where revellers gather round the biggest tree to sing and create lots of noise to ward off bad spirits. Often a wassail bowl, filled with warm spiced cider, perry or ale, is shared among the procession and poured on the tree roots. A ‘gift’ is made by the wassail King & Queen (usually children) to the biggest tree, when they are hoisted into the boughs to place toast soaked in wassail (the cider mix). The bread is said to keep the birds alive during winter so that they will eat the bugs and keep the trees healthy in spring.

Gathering around a lit fire in the orchard, which represents ‘renewal’, not to mention some welcome warmth for participants in cold January, you are encouraged to chant an invocation such as…

Here’s to thee, old apple tree,
May you bud, may you bow!
Stand fast root, bear well top,
Pray God send us a good howling crop.
Every twig, apples big,
Every bough, apples now.
Hats full, caps full, full quarter sacks full,
Holla boys holla, and blow the horn!

Leading the noise and throng, it has become usual for Morris dancers to be integral to a Wassail and they certainly add appropriate entertainment and enthusiasm. They may even do some Mumming or Mummers; a form of play or performance to enact a story, and they will eagerly treat you to their lively dance and the spectacle of their costumes.

It’s not unusual for the evening to end with a visit to a local pub to warm up and we asked landlord and cider enthusiast, Matt Slocombe, at The Crown Inn Woolhope what a Wassail means to him.

“It’s a wonderful excuse to bring a village together in a simple time-honoured way. From children to grandparents, it’s an easy occasion to get involved in and look forward to after Christmas. Our Wassail at The Crown has grown enormously, attracting people from all over the area, and they meet up with friends that they couldn’t see over Christmas. We put on a hog roast and pizzas, drinks, provide torches if you don’t have your own and encourage people to dress up. The pub is the perfect heart for social and traditional celebrations like this, we love it”.

So pull on your woollies and your wellies and head for one of the area’s Wassailing evenings for an experience like no other. Find a selection below.

Saturday 4th January The Wassail at Westons Cider

Much Marcle, Near Ledbury

5:30pm – 9:00pm
In aid of St Michael’s Hospice

Advance Adult Ticket: £12, Children: Free. On the night adult ticket: £14, child ticket: Free.

Find details and tickets on st-michaels-hospice.org.uk/how-you-can-help-us/fundraise-for-us/events/the-wassail-3/

Saturday 4 January National Trust Brockhampton Estate

Near Bromyard, Herefordshire

6:00 – 8:30p

£3.00 per car

For details and tickets go to: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/worcestershire-herefordshire/brockhampton/events

Monday January 6 The Leominster Morris Wassail 2025

The Crown Inn, Dilwyn, Hereford

7.00 – 10.00pm

Entry by free ticket presentation

Get tickets on leominstermorris.wordpress.com/gig-list/

Saturday 11 January RotherWassail

Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre

Join Rotherwas Together and friends to welcome in the New Year with a wassail at Herefordshire Archive & Records Centre.
Take a lantern or torch plus a mug/cup/flask to drink from.
3pm – Opening of New Leaf’s Krayina exhibition.
4pm – 6pm Wassail featuring choirs, musicians and food from the Ukranian community in partnership with Herefordshire New Leaf and the Association of Ukranians in Great Britain.

Details here facebook.com/events/1107377797384041