New Year Wassails!

2022
Wren Music was joined by over 150 members of the public last weekend as we celebrated the new year, blessed the apple trees, sang songs and made noise to chase away the evil spirits – this was our Wassail! We Wasaailed in Exeter and Okehampton.
Below is a video of some of the Exeter celebrations. (Compiled from mobile phone footage collected in the dark so please forgive us for not it not being the highest quality!)
Fire lit up St Sidwell’s garden and the crowd had drums, sticks and pots and pans to make as much noise as they could. A choir sang Wassail songs which the crowd could join in. Warm spiced cider was poured on the roots of the trees, and toast hung from the branches to encourage the robin down to eat any pests. People wrote their wishes for the new year and hung these from the trees too. Many of the apple trees in the garden were young, so we hope our efforts bring a good harvest for them this year! Thank you to St Sidwell’s Community Centre for also letting us hold a folk music session inside after the ceremony. A great evening was had by all, and we nearly dodged all the rain! Wren’s own Jon Dyer was our master of ceremonies and could be seen with his hat lit up and adorned with ivy and apples.
Thank you to everyone who came along, including those we enticed from the street intrigued by what was going on. Wassail!