Last year you may recall Asa and I learned about the Anglo-Saxon tradition of wassailing apple trees. After 8 years of not having a bountiful harvest, or really any harvest to speak of, we headed out on Twelfth Night, January 6th, to participate in this ancient tradition of scaring away the evil spirits by blessing our apple trees with cider, song, and toast.

Along with Mom and Dad, we formed a circle around the largest of our apple trees, which for reference isn’t that large, but did give us a single apple in the Autumn of 2020. We then began the ritual by reading the following blessing:

“Cider from this loving cup,
Too much for mortal man to sup, 
About thy roots the goodness spread, 
And help you in the year ahead.” 

While doing this, the Wassail King, Dad, poured cider on the roots of the tree, while the Wassail Queen, Mom, placed toast soaked in wassail, a mulled wine, on a branch. Following the blessing, Asa led us in a rousing version of “The Gloucestershire Wassail.”

“Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we’ll drink to thee…”

Followed by a lively rendition of this cheer:

“Apple tree, apple tree, we all come to wassail thee,
Bear this year and next year to bloom and to blow,
Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sack fills,
Hip, Hip, Hip, hurrah,
Holler boys, holler hurrah!” 

After the singing, which may or may not have included jazz hands, we barked our fiercest barks, while Mom banged a pot to scare away any evil spirits that may be lurking, while simultaneously awaking the good spirits that live in the tree.

Did our efforts work? Not in the least! Not only did we not get a single apple last Autumn, our biggest apple tree now has a hole near the base of its trunk from insect damage. But I know what we did wrong. First off, I should have been the Wassail King. Clearly Dad was not up to that responsibility. Then there’s the toast Mom used. I knew really early on that there was a problem, because none of the birds or other critters took a single bite of that toast, as it clung to the branches weeks later. She no doubt used the thin sliced, “low calorie,” store brand bread, that she’s so fond of eating. This year I’m making sure the toast we’re using is the good stuff from the bakery. As for the singing, I’m not sure if Asa scared away the evil spirits. In fact, he may have invited them to stay! So this year I’m taking charge, and making sure everything is done correctly! Now if you’ll please excuse me, I have some important wassailing to do!