What do you do when you have 12 lords-a-leaping on Twelfth Night? Why, Wassailing, of course! I learned a lot about Wassailing last January, when reader Kimberly C. told me about their event at Meridian Park. So, here’s the scoop:
Basically, Apple Wassailing dates back to the 16th century, though some may believe the tradition began as a Pagan ritual. This type of wassailing is to pay homage to apple trees and scare off the evil spirits so that the trees may bear lots of tasty apples during the harvest. Apple Wassailing is usually practiced during “Twelfth Night” though there’s a lot of confusion as to when “Twelfth Night” actually occurs. Wikipedia tells us that “it is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as ‘the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking.’ So, for the sake of argument, we’ll go with the first week in January.
This Saturday, January 7 beginning at 2:15PM, Kimberly’s Morris dance troupe returns to Meridian Park to Wassail the apple trees, along with the Bridgetown Morris Men from Portland. Here’s some information fro Kimberly:
We will have at least 12 leaping lords in addition to many ladies dancing as we celebrate the olde English custom of ensuring a bountiful harvest by singing to the trees, dancing around them, and offering a toast to the trees (which in this case includes actual toast, soaked in cider, to feed the robins who were thought to be the spirits of the apple trees).
We will gather near the picnic tables at 2:15 on Saturday January 7th at Meridian Playfield in Wallingford. We will be the ones with bells on!
If this sounds like your cup of tea (or apple cider, in this case), then join them this Saturday. Here’s a video of the Wassailing Bridgetown Morris Men from Portland:
Bridgetown Morris Men at Wassail from Wally Margaret on Vimeo.