If you are not English (and even many who are) will respond to this title with, “What?” I was unsure about what it meant until last night. Let me explain.
My step-son is a keen brewer of cider, and he invited us to join his friends last night for a Wassail ceremony. I knew that this is an ancient piece of English folk-lore, but had very little understanding of exactly what it meant–apart from the fact that drink is involved. Accordingly, after dark we set out for his allotment,* and were intrigued as we approached to see fires burning and to hear loud and repeated cries of “Wassail!”, followed by equally loud responses of “Drink ale!” All became clear (well–most of it) after we arrived.
The “Wassail” ceremony involves the blessing of the apple-trees, from which cider is made. This is done by pouring a libation on the roots of a tree. A “maiden” is lifted into the branches, and the blessing is chanted. (I gather that beer can be involved instead of cider.) This is followed by the assembled company making as much noise as possible by banging pots and pans or any other metal objects to hand, in order to scare away the evil spirits that might threaten the crop.
The blessing ceremony itself was followed by a performance of the “Mummers”. These are a troupe of players who perform a traditional drama. I gather that there are very considerable differences between local variations of this, but the version to which we were treated involved a fight between St. George and a Turkish knight. (This last appears in different versions as Beelzebub, and a dragon, or a “Wise Worm”.) St. George is killed, but resurrected by a “doctor”, and then goes on to kill the Turkish knight. A “Fool” supervises and comments on the process. I believe that in other local variations the cast might include also a “Maid”. The widely differing local variations each have their own traditional scripts, and these sometimes include songs. I’m told that in some places the play can take place in many other venues–frequently in pubs–but linked to the blessing of the trees it was appropriate to hold it in the orchard itself. Sometimes also the performance takes place during the daytime, but I am sure that our night-time event, surrounded by fires and blazing torches, will have been far more atmospheric, whether or not it was “traditional”.
Apart from the fairly large quantities of cider or beer that are available for the watching crowd, a “Wassail Cup” circulates, from which everybody has to drink. For how long all this carries on I am not sure, but probably for quite some time after we prudently left.
Well: what does it all mean? I’m still really not sure. Reading about it today I learned that the oldest written records of the Mummers’ Play are from the Middle Ages. References to a “Turkish Knight” suggest the period of the Crusades. Clearly elements of the event are probably older, and could indeed be very ancient, with some suggesting that the origins are in pre-Christian agricultural fertility ceremonies. This would not surprise me, although I doubt that there is any way of saying for certain.
With my former interests in anthropology and my current commitment to art converging here, I am already beginning to think that I (and possibly you too) have not heard the last of this story.
*An allotment is a garden, usually for growing fruit and vegetables. Instead of being attached to dwellings these are grouped in special areas apart from housing. Often each remnant will have a small hut for tools and equipment, and sometimes a glass-house.