From Pop-Up Pints to Sacred Saplings: Ryburgh's Unique Pub-Meets-Nature Celebration
Wassailing is coming to Great Ryburgh
Wassailing is a post-Christmas tradition that has been practised in Britain for centuries. Its purpose is to drive away evil spirits and encourage good spirits into ensuring a good fruit harvest the following season. It takes place in early January and involves a visit to an orchard for singing, dancing, drinking and general merrymaking.
Historically, wassailing took many different forms. One form of the wassailing tradition involved groups of revellers going from house to house to drink toasts and wish good health for the year ahead on the dwellers within. The word ‘wassail’ is believed to be derived from the Old English ‘was hál’, meaning ‘be hale’ or ‘good health’. The response to the cry “wassail!” is “drinc hael” which means “I drink to your health”.
Nowadays a wassail involves a procession to an orchard or fruit trees (usually pear or apple) to sing songs, bang pots and pans to make a noise to scare away bad spirits and then bless the trees to encourage a good fruit crop by hanging toast soaked in cider on their branches.
In the English folk world there are two quite well-known wassailing songs: ‘The Gloucestershire Wassail Song’, ‘Wassail! Wassail, all over the town, our toast it is white and our ale it is brown…’, and ‘The Wassailer’s Carol’ (‘Here we come a-Wassailing among the leaves so green’). Both songs are widely recorded. The version of the Gloucestershire is by The Longest Johns.
The community “Pop-Up-Pub” will open to support this local celebration
On Saturday 18th January wassailing will come to Great Ryburgh to bless the fruit trees in the community woodland as part of the celebration to mark ten years of the community woodland. Holt Ridge Morris dancers from Aylsham will lead the wassail procession and proceedings, before heading back to the Memorial Hall for some morris dancing and a celebratory beer or two from the “Pop Up Pub”. Do come and join us in a centuries old tradition and to help encourage a good fruit summer crop in 2025.
The important times are:
3.00pm Holt Ridge Morris dancers will lead the procession from the Memorial Hall to the community woodland for the Wassail.
4.30pm Morris dancing at the Memorial Hall.
Useful links
The National Trust website has a good page on wassailing. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/whats-on/join-in-with-the-annual-wassail
Ryburgh community pub https://www.ryburghcommunitypub.co.uk/
Holt Ridge Morris dancers https://holtridgemorris.co.uk/For further details email . info.ryburghwildlife@gmail.com
