Wassail fire Pic: Gary

Jason from the Wild Hunt reports on the tradition of Wassailing in his blog. He says: While most American Pagans are already looking towards Imbolc,  Lupercalia (or Valentines Day) and the Spring holidays, England is still finishing up their Winter observances, specifically the wassailing of trees. Timed around the old Epiphany feasts, this Anglo-Saxon tradition is undergoing a revival of sorts, with participants aware and comfortable with the pagan history of this event.

It was the second Wassail held at the orchard, which is run by volunteers. Events co-ordinator Yvette Grindley told the Mail: “The ceremony has certainly worked for us in the past. “We got a bumper harvest the year of the floods, even though we lost 10 per cent of the trees, and last year we also got a great harvest because of all the rain, with apples as big as saucers. “It’s all a bit of superstition and fun, but it’s great to bring back this tradition back to the area. In parts of the south, where there are more orchards this is a big event.” Visitors were entertained by the Raving Mae morris dancers and kept warm with hot mulled cider and apple tea.

You can see a short video of the proceedings, here. Other wassailing bands are far more deliberate in their Paganism, as evidenced by the festival held at Kenninghall.

Drummers beat out a wild rhythm and the moon glistened in the night sky as scores of revellers held a Pagan wassailing festival. Led by outlandish characters the Lord of Missrule and the Green Man, villagers gathered at the community orchard at Kenninghall, near Diss, for an ancient ceremony to honour the fruit trees and bring about a bumper crop this year. Gifts and lanterns were hung on an apple tree planted by local Scouts, as parish council chairman Steve Gordon ordered out the old year – in his guise as Green Man – and urged the gathering to toast the spring when new life comes creeping in.

It seems that there is a growing acceptance and acknowledgment among non-Pagans of the “pagan” origins of seasonal festivities (whether real or imagined), and a shift towards more celebratory observances. I’m not sure if this a grass-roots shift in attitude, or if the growth of modern Paganism and the recent journalistic trend towards finding/exploring pagan origins have influenced things a bit, but as tough fiscal times continue I bet people are going to look for more excuses to party, escape their day-to-day worries, and maybe propritiate the powers that be in the process.

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