Local resident Julie Bowtell writes about this weekend’s wassailing ceremony.
Oxhey Community Orchard, at Paddock Road Allotments, is 20 years old – and what better way to start a year of celebrations than to wassail at the orchard. On Saturday 12 January 2019, pretty lights lit our way through the allotment site to a huge bonfire, where about 100 local people gathered for hot spiced cider and apple juice.
Wassailing is an old English tradition to give thanks for the apple harvest and to hope for an even better one in the year to come. This probably involved several generous cups of the orchard’s cider! It was often celebrated at a mid-winter meeting, spreading good health and good cheer, and collecting for charity.
Oxhey’s version wishes the trees well by placing some apple cake into the branches of our guardian tree to attract birds to eat the pests and bugs, and by sprinkling cider onto the tree roots to symbolise nourishment. A wassailing poem finishes the ceremony with the final sentence acting as a toast, followed by a thunderous din to discourage pests, drive out evil spirits and wake the sleeping trees back to life.
Former allotment site supervisor Mary Reid established the community orchard back in 1999, and we have to thank her for starting the tradition of wassailing here in Oxhey. Please look out for information about Apple Day in October to continue the Community Orchard’s 20 year celebrations.
Julie Bowtell
Thank you to Dylan Note for the Oxhey Village wassailing photos.
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