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| The tradition of wassailing the apple trees goes back many centuries. Following the winter holidays, townsfolk would troop into the local apple orchards, where they would sing and drink wassail among the trees in hopes of bringing luck and fortune, frightening evil spirits from the orchard, and ensuring a bountiful crop.
To carry out your own wassailing, pour cider or ale into a tankard and head for your favorite apple trees. Once there, sing a wassailing song while circling the trees and drinking from your tankard. Pour an offering of cider or ale over the roots of each tree, repeating this traditional rhyme: "Wassaile the trees, that they may beare you many a Plum and many a Peare; For more or lesse fruits they will bring, as you do give them Wassailing." Finish your drink, circle the trees again, and depart singing or whistling. |
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