Wassail!
Copyright New Ash Green
Traditionally held on Old Twelfth Night (17 January), the ancient tradition of wassailing the orchard has seen a huge revival over the last 15 years - there are now hundreds of these bacchanalian celebrations throughout the land every year​​
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Our friends at TradFolk maintain a great list of wassails
Wassail songs
Image credit Jeff Davies
Apples, Cherries, Plums and Lovely Pears
(sung to the tune of “She'll be coming round the mountain......”)
Singing apples, cherries, plums and lovely pears....
Singing apples, cherries, plums and lovely pears....
Singing apples, cherries, plu-ums,
Apples, cherries, plums......,
Apples, cherries, plums and bang our drums...
Bang our drums!
Plants need bees and other insects to grow well...
So that seeds and nuts and fruits all start to swell.
Without that pollen transfer -
No apples, cherries, plums,
So let's all get busy on our drums....
on our drums!
Singing apples, cherries plums and lovely pears,
Singing apples, cherries, plums and lovely pears....
Singing apples, cherries, plu-ums,
Apples, cherries, plums......,
Apples, cherries, plums and bang our drums...
Bang our drums!
(All sing chorus, then verse, then chorus again. Participants, encouraged to bring saucepans, sticks, whistles, etc. to scare off the negative spirits, join in the singing and add their own percussion at the end of each section.)
Words by Jenny Floyd, Tree Warden in Radford Arboretum, Radford Woods Local Nature Reserve and Community Orchard, Plymstock, Devon
Wassail Song
(Sung to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree” or “O Tannenbaum” borrowed from an old German Folksong)
Dear apple trees be healthy please.
We've come to help your fruit grow.
We're gathered here to bring good cheer
and make all bad things disappear.
May blossoms bloom in Spring again,
while bees and insects bring again
the pollen that will make fruit come.
So now we're going to bang our drums!
(Sing song a few times through with percussion accompaniment. Audience, with saucepans, sticks, whistles, etc. to scare off the negative spirits, joining in the singing and adding their own noisy percussion at the end of each verse)
Words by Jenny Floyd, Tree Warden in Radford,Arboretum, Radford Woods Local Nature Reserve and Community Orchard, Plymstock, Devon
Image credit Jeff Davies
Traditional wassails
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Wassail! Wassail! All over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink unto thee.
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Old Apple tree, old apple tree;
We've come to wassail thee;
To bear and to bow apples enow;
Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full;
Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs
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