Apple Wassail

The Apple Wassail is a traditional form of wassailing practiced in the cider orchards of Southern England during the winter. There are many well recorded instances of the Apple Wassail in the early modern period. The first recorded mention was at Fordwich, Kent, in 1585, by which time groups of young men would go between orchards performing the rite for a reward. The practice was sometimes referred to as "howling". On Twelfth Night, men would go with their wassail bowl into the orchard and go about the trees. Slices of bread or toast were laid at the roots and sometimes tied to branches. Cider was also poured over the tree roots. The ceremony is said to "bless" the trees to produce a good crop in the forthcoming season. Among the most famous wassail ceremonies are those in Whimple, Devon and Carhampton, Somerset, both on 17 January.

There are also many new, commercial or "revival" wassails springing up all over the Westcountry. and further afield, such as those in Stoke Gabriel and Sandford, Devon. Clevedon in north Somerset holds an annual Wassailing event in the Clevedon Community Orchard, combining the traditional elements of the festival with the entertainment and music of the Bristol Morris Men and their Horse. The Blackhand Cyder Society in the village of Denton, Norfolk has developed its own version with a local maiden performing the blessing.

A folktale from Somerset reflecting this custom tells of the Apple Tree Man, the spirit of the oldest apple tree in an orchard, and in whom the fertility of the orchard is thought to reside. In the tale a man offers his last mug of mulled cider to the trees in his orchard and is rewarded by the Apple Tree Man who reveals to him the location of buried gold.

Musical adaptations
The “Apple Tree Wassail” being a well-documented song publicised by English Folk Dance and Song Society, and Mainly Norfolk, the song was recorded by Jon Boden and Oli Steadman for inclusion in their respective lists of daily folk songs "A Folk Song A Day" and "365 Days Of Folk".

Traditional Apple Wassail rhymes
"Here's to thee, old apple tree, Whence thou mayst bud And whence thou mayst blow! And whence thou mayst bear apples enow! Hats full! Caps full! Bushel—bushel—sacks full, And my pockets full too! Huzza!"

- South Hams of Devon, 1871

"Huzza, Huzza, in our good town The bread shall be white, and the liquor be brown So here my old fellow I drink to thee And the very health of each other tree. Well may ye blow, well may ye bear Blossom and fruit both apple and pear. So that every bough and every twig May bend with a burden both fair and big May ye bear us and yield us fruit such a stors That the bags and chambers and house run o'er."

- Cornworthy, Devon, 1805

"Stand fast root, bear well top Pray the God send us a howling good crop. Every twig, apples big. Every bough, apples now."

- 19th century Sussex, Surrey

"Apple-tree, apple-tree, Bear good fruit, Or down with your top And up with your root."

- 19th century S. Hams.

"Bud well, bear well God send you fare well; Every sprig and every spray A bushel of apples next New Year Day."

- 19th century Worcestershire

"Here we come a wassailing Among the leaves so green, Here we come a wandering So fair to be seen. Love and joy come to you, And to you your wassail too, And God bless you and send you a happy New Year. And God send you a happy New Year."

- Somerset, 1871

Henry David Thoreau also describes the tradition in "Wild Apples."