The Soul and the City Art Literature and Urban Living Torrent
Wassailing was once a mid-winter folk custom institute all across the British Isles. Today it still survives every bit a living tradition in some rural communities (peculiarly here in the West Canton), and it is currently enjoying a contemporary revival in numerous others.
There are two singled-out forms of wassailing: door-to-door or under the trees. The outset takes place in the run-upwards to Christmas and is related to the custom of carolling: wassailers become house to firm singing wassail songs, collecting coins, drink, or food in their wassail bowls. The second kind of wassail generally happens some time in January and involves the "waking" and approving of apple copse to ensure a good harvest in the year ahead. These ceremonies can be simple or lavish, taking place by day or by dark, sober and family-friendly or drunken and raucous. What they share in mutual are traditional wassail songs and stories, the custom of leaving toast in the trees (a gift for the robins or spirits) and approval the roots with concluding year'southward apple juice or cider, and making noise (with drums, or guns, or pots-and-pans) to wake the trees and call dorsum the dominicus. To learn more, read Jude Roger'due south recent article on wassailing in The Guardian, or see The Tradfolk Wassail Directory on the Tradfolk website.
Here in Chagford, our wassail in mid-January was a daylight thing under the apple trees of a community field, full of stories and songs and children blessing the trees with juice from the wassail loving cup. Down the road, in the village of Lustleigh, was a wilder wassail gathering by the calorie-free of the moon, with black-clad Border Morris dancers waking the trees their sticks and their cries and their pounding feet. I honey both kinds of wassailing, dark and bright: celebrating the seasons, nature's compensation, and the bonds of community.
The video to a higher place looks at the history of wassailing and other winter folk rituals -- filmed past BBC Bristol in 1977, and featuring music by the Albion Band.
Beneath is a Cornish variant of a well-known wassail song performed by Lady Maisery (Hannah James, Rowan Rheingans, Hazel Beveled), with Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith. It's from Awake Arise: A Winter Anthology (2019).
In a higher place: "The Apple Tree Man" performed past John Kirkpatrick with Rosie Cross, Georgina Le Imitation, Michael Gregory, Jane Threlfall, and Carl Hogsden, on their anthology Wassail!: A Celebration of an English language Midwinter (1998).
Below: "The Gloucestershire Wassail" performed past Magpie Lane on their album Wassail!: A Land Christmas (2009).
To a higher place: "Homeless Wassail," a contemporary wassail by the Canadian trio Finest Kind (Ian Robb, Ann Downey, and Shelley Posen). The vocal tin exist plant on Robb'due south album Music for a Winter'south Eve (2012).
Below: "Saccharide Wassail" performed the swell Waterson-Carthy ring (Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, and their girl Eliza Carthy, with Tim van Eyken), from Holy Heathens and the Quondam Green Man (2006). It'due south poignant to mind to their music right now after the death of Norma a week agone, at the historic period of 82. This legendary singer (and legendary family) shaped the field of English folk music equally we know it today and her loss has broken hearts all effectually the world, including mine.
I more video to end with: a curt clip of Beltane Border, our local Border Morris side, performing at a wassil commemoration at The Sometime Chuch House Inn at Torbyran. We are and then lucky to take this group on Dartmoor, keeping the seasons turning....
Imagery above: a cartoon of the Apple-Tree-Man by Alan Lee, two photographs from Chagford's wassail: storytelling and children blessing the trees, and morris dancing past Dartmoor'south Beltane Border.
Source: https://www.terriwindling.com/
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