Stoke Gabriel Wassail

The Newton Bushel Morris Dancers outside the Church House Inn, Stoke Gabriel.

Wassailing is an old custom that takes place on Old Twelfth Night to exhort apple trees to fruit well the following season. After the morris dancing the ceremony took place in the orchard, performed by the Wassail Queen and King, the scene lit only by lanterns and torches and the pale glimmer of the lights from the pub. Cider was poured onto the roots of the trees and bread soaked in cider was placed in the branches for the robins, the spirit of the trees. In a dramatic finale in the darkness shots were fired through the branches to ward off evil spirits and wake the trees from their winter slumber. Warm cider was drunk and Wassail songs sung. Maybe it was the cider but we felt completely part of it, like ancient Devonians not incomers.