Raise the Home-educating Spirits with a Winter Wassail

In Nature, In Community

January is often a time when people could do with having their spirits raised. It can be a cold, dark and lonely time and coming together to punctuate it with something light and wholesome can be the perfect antidote.

My memories of winter wassailing events when our children were young are of people gathered outside in rich green spaces, being warmed by hot soup, mulled cider, fireside storytelling and orchard songs and blessings.

After having been to a number of wassails I’ve witnessed that each community does it their way. As I’ve got to know more about the culture and history of wassailing it becomes clear that its something that takes on a unique flavour of the people who share it.

This can be seen in the variations of the same songs across counties in the West Country with slight variations of lyrics and tune.

Knowing this gave me confidence to host our own within our home-ed co-op, even opening it out to the local community to attend. I’ve now hosted 4 annual wassails and they’ve never failed to leave me full of gratitude and buzzing for days.

Bless the apple tree

The Blessings of a Wassail

I’ve come to recognise that going wassailing is uplifting on so many levels. From the medicine of nature to community, movement, voice, celebration, gratitude and belonging.

In Nature

Nature is a wonderful medicine. It instantly uplifts. It’s spacious and invites in awe and gratitude. The simplicity of colours and objects and deep connection to our own evolution makes it naturally regenerative. It brings us back to ourselves, more at peace and energised.

This is one of the best things about a wassail. It brings people outdoors and into the beauty of nature in wintertime. A time when most people hibernate entirely, moving from indoor space to indoor space. Without regular time spent outdoors we can end up feeling disconnected, isolated and cabin-feverish.

Being immersed in the elements, especially in wintertime, is a very powerful thing indeed.

In Community

Gathering with others in a light celebratory way helps our cares float away with the clouds. It reminds us we’re not meant to be alone, we’re social animals and need rich contact on a regular basis.

It helps us recognise our interdependence, that we share this earth, this village, this park, this orchard, these apples, and all the resources we depend upon for life.

Community is where we become known, it’s where we feel our sense of value, and is a massive pillar of health.

Getting together in community is a physical reminder that we are in this together, and together we will be well.

Embodiment

In an age where much of our experience is through digital mediums, of a sedentary nature, sat down at a desk, or as a consumer in shops and cafes, it is more than just a breath of fresh air to step outdoors and walk to a local green space.

We get to experience life first-hand, to run, to sing, to dance, to move. There’s something particularly special about a drumbeat that demands presence, we feel it in our heart, we stomp along and feel our bodies waking up. There is an invitation of freedom, to let go and get into the spirit of celebration.

We move together for the purpose of enjoyment and connection, and together we are moved by its beauty and simplicity.

We get to feel the joy in our bodies as a whole-bodied experience. Nourishing on all levels; mind, body and soul.

Voice & Sound

Wassailing songs are a major part of the event. They are historically relevant and fun to sing. Sometimes it will be a folk singer or choir that gifts you with their voice and touches your heart. Or perhaps drumbeats, guitar, of fiddle.

However, what I really love is getting everyone singing. I’m no singer and I think this helps with participation. It reassures people that we’re just here for the fun of it, no judgement, no need for perfection, just to enjoy the experience of our voices joining together in celebration.

I stick to short and catchy songs, ones that are easy for anyone to dive into. Call and response work well, and song sheets are helpful too.

As well as joining in song, we get to unleash our voices in the form of spoken blessings which centre us and connect us to hope and gratitude. Each followed by a loud ‘Huzza!’ howled out in agreement.

Raising our voices with gusto is energetically strengthening, and deep breathing engages our diaphragm which switches us out of fight & flight mode and into rest, digest and restore mode. No wonder we feel more at ease after a jolly good singsong!

Gratitude and Celebration

The fact that a wassail is all about giving blessings means that it is naturally uplifting. The word itself means, “be in good health” and so to wassail an apple tree or a person is to wish it prosperity.

We thank the apple tree by offering cider to its roots and a toast to its top. We bestow our blessings with gusto and a great loud Huzza! We wassail each other, to which we reply, “Drinc Hael”, which basically means, “I’ll drink to that!”.

The celebration has meaning because it relates to inviting in a prosperous year. It drives out the pesky miserable winter spirits that could spoil a crop. It draws in warmth and hope.

And lets face it, our culture tends more towards criticism than gratitude, and so a wassail is like bathing in a sea of blessings.

Belonging

I like to tell the history of this West Country folk custom at the start of any wassail I host. I think it helps us recognise the historical and cultural significance. People learn why the West Country is cider country and why a bumper crop was so important. How it meant the difference between struggle and prosperity.

Apples represent prosperity

I let people know that carolling has its origins in wassailing, where door-knocking and the exchange of songs and blessings for figgy-pudding and gin began. It highlights the great rich-poor, peasant-lord divide.

It links us to our heritage through the rituals and stories in the songs. Each song gives us a picture of what life was like back then. What they valued. What had meaning. What’s changed and what hasn’t.

It brings people together who live to the same area and helps them connect to a sense of belonging, to the community, and to the land. It reminds us we have a shared need for kind nature, good cheer, and hope, especially through the cold winter months.

Give it a go! 

When we wassail together, we drive away the miserable winter spirits, exchange blessings and invite in a prosperous year. Together we honour nature and all it gives and leave with our heart’s warmed enough to see us through until the first shoots of spring!