From Halloween and bonfire night to Christmas markets, ice skating and new year fireworks, the final three months of the year are packed with opportunities for getting out and enjoying a bit of revelry in the evenings. But for some reason, we don’t continue winter merrymaking into January.
So if you’re struggling into the new year, feeling bereft of festive pleasures and lacking pretty much anything to look forward to until the arrival of spring, warm weather and a clutch of bank holidays, you may want to consider embracing the Anglo-Saxon tradition of Wassailing this January as a way to prolong new year merriment. Especially if you’re a cider drinker.
It may sound archaic, but plenty of Wassailing events in and around apple-growing regions such as Bristol and Somerset still continue today, with a mix of Pagan and vaguely Christian customs in which apple trees are blessed to ensure a healthy harvest for the year ahead. Wassail drinks, typically warm cider, are shared, and songs are sung while a king and queen are elected to lead revellers in a noisy procession, sometimes accompanied by shotguns, to both waken sleeping tree spirits and frighten away evil demons.
