David Castleton (Author) on Nostr: A curious custom around #Christmas & New Year was wassailing. People would congregate ...

A curious custom around #Christmas & New Year was wassailing. People would congregate in apple orchards after dark, beat the trees with sticks & pour cider on their roots. A great deal of noise was made, with cheering, singing, horns blown & guns fired. This ritual was said to ensure a good crop in the upcoming year & bring good luck. It might have also been intended to 'wake the trees up' in the dead of winter. The custom declined somewhat in the early 20th century, but was revived post-War. However, some modern practitioners couldn't resist 'improving' what had been a fairly simple custom. In 'The English Year' Steve Roud reports a case of revived Wassailing from 1954: "The only unusual feature was the presence of two evil spirits, dressed as witches, with tall hats and broomsticks, who squatted in the branches of an apple tree. When the guns were fired through the orchard, the spirits fell out of the tree and were chased away by the delighted crowd." #folklore #history #Yule