Wassailing

Wassailing
 

On Friday 26th January 2018, the community of Branscombe C of E Primary School once again went wassailing in the local orchard. In keeping with local tradition, the assembled children, staff and parents sang songs, including our own Branscombe wassailing song, banged pots and pans or instruments to scare away any evil spirits and shouted chants to encourage the apples to grow. The wassail king and queen, chosen from among the children, led the ceremonies, with the wassail queen placing toast dipped in the wassail cup in the branches of the trees, while the wassail king poured some of the apple-juice-based wassail drink on the roots of the trees. The party then moved back to the school, for a feast of ‘wassail cup’ (spiced apple juice) and a range of apple-based cakes, pies and other treats, provided by staff and parents. While the revellers feasted, they were entertained by the children of the school, who shared some of the work they had completed earlier in the week around the theme of wassailing. The Key stage 1 and EYFS children shared poems about wassailing and paintings of apples or apple cores, while the children of Key Stage 2 read out sections of the reports they had researched and written about various customs associated with the tradition of wassailing.