Orchard Wassailing
17 January 2026 — Cheers to the apple trees! Sing to them and they will bear well next year!
Wassail (from Old English “waes hael”, meaning “be well”) is an old English orchard custom, best known in South West England, especially Somerset and Devon, as well as in Herefordshire. People gather in the orchard, sing to the trees, make noise to drive away bad spirits, and pour cider over the roots. Pieces of toast soaked in cider are often hung in the branches, and sometimes guns are fired into the air. The aim is a good harvest in the coming year. The custom is traditionally linked to Twelfth Night and the end of the Christmas season; by the old Julian calendar this points to 17 January, but today the date differs from place to place, often falling on Twelfth Night (5–6 January) or in mid-January. The tradition marks the quiet winter pause of nature, when the trees sleep and people already look ahead to the return of light and spring.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of bright dots and fine lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky: a large wooden wassail bowl with rising steam, tipping gently to pour a glowing drop onto a small star-branched apple tree
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