Charter Day Wassail
The Christchurch Wassail
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Charter Day Wassail
 | Welcome to the Christchurch Folk website celebrating the old English custom of wassailing.It contains a brief outline of wassailing and a description of the wassail ceremony initiated in the Dorset town of Christchurch at Yuletide 2007.It is hoped that this will encourage more people to engage in this revitalising seasonal custom and to begin their own tradition. |
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What Is Wassailing?
The term ‘wassail’ is believed to be derived from an Anglo-Saxon phrase meaning ‘be whole’ or ‘ be of good health’ and is recorded as an English salutation in use before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
In many areas it became a Yuletide custom for the seasonal toasting and singing to be accompanied by the passing around of a wassail cup, a large vessel filled with hot spiced ale. The wassailers would parade from house to house, often in the expectation that their cheerful carolling would receive some small reward from each householder.
In the orchards of south-west England it was customary to wassail the trees with the fruits of the previous harvest preserved as cider, ale, or bread. These ceremonies were often concluded with much noise-making, sometimes including the firing of a shotgun through the upper branches, to stir the trees from their slumber after the passing of the Winter solstice.
Some folklorists hint that wassailing is a remnant of pre-Christian tree worship, but the Christchurch Wassail rather uses the tree as a symbol or mirror for our own human lives. We all strive to be strong and healthy, and to grow physically, emotional, and spiritually. We all have plans that we would like to see come to fruition. Yet we must acknowledge that these things can only come into being when the preparatory groundwork has been done and the prevailing conditions are correct – for every thing there is a season.
The Christchurch Wassail is therefore as much about revering and celebrating our own ability to grow and develop as it is about honouring a tree. It is a gentle reminder that a cultivated spirit can sustain us through hardship, allow us to blossom as individuals, and offer the hope of future fulfilment.
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When Should Wassailing Be Done?
There are some who insist that wassailing must take place on Twelfth Night, and others assert that the eve of Old Twelfth Night (16th January) is correct. The fact is that different parts of the country wassailed on various dates over the Yuletide period. If you have a local traditional date it may be prudent to honour it. If there is no customary date it is probably acceptable to wassail any time you like between the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year (usually the 21st December), and a lunar month later, which happens to be pretty close to Old Twelfth Night.
Christchurch has no known tradition of wassailing, so the Charter Day Wassail was introduced as part of the 750th anniversary celebration of a royal charter for St Faith's Fair. This was granted by Henry III to Baldwin de Redvers, Lord of the Manor of Christchurch, on the 28th December 1257.
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