Summary (by AI): I finally attended the Hartley Wintney village wassail and, despite missing the orchard ceremony, it was a brilliant night out with friends, complete with Morris dancers, lighted torches, and multiple pints of cider.
Blog: Many years ago, some friends of mine moved to Hartley Wintney, near Hook in Hampshire. Not long after they arrived, they found themselves at the local village wassail and, by the sound of it, had a fantastic time—one that left them feeling rather "piddly pooed." Ever since hearing their stories, I’ve thought to myself that I’d love to see what this wassailing business was all about.
For those who don't know, wassailing is the act of blessing an orchard. It involves a ritualistic blessing of the trees using honeyed toast, or toast dipped in cider. The toast is left for the robins, who are said to be the guardians of the orchard. The word "wassail" itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon term Waes Hael, a greeting for good health. Over the years, the tradition evolved into a process where people would go door-to-door singing, similar to modern-day caroling, exchanging wishes of good health for food, drink, or money.
Recently, I realized the wassail was happening again in Hartley Wintney, so I rang up my friends and told them, "You know what? I’m coming down." They were more than happy to join me, and we had a brilliant night.
We started by watching the traditional Morris dancers. These were the Hook Eagle Morris Men, a local Border Morris side known for their striking kit, including unique headdresses and feathers—allegedly, the number of feathers corresponds to the number of "conquests" each dancer has managed over the years! They were fantastic to watch.
One of the highlights was being allowed to carry lighted torches all the way along Hartley Wintney High Street. In this day and age of strict health and safety, it was refershing to be able to do that.
It was incredibly busy—so busy, in fact, that we didn't actually get to see much of the specific orchard ceremony. We got stuck in the queue to get into the orchard with our torches, but it didn't really matter. We made up for it with multiple pints of cider in the pub on the way back, and some of the girls even got involved in dancing with the Morris dancers. It was a classic, brilliant night out.
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