The fire is lit, then they sing and dance in the frosty night, offering good wishes to a fruit tree and slurping from a bowl of carefully brewed spiced alcohol. This is wassailing, a pagan ceremony to ...

A group of revelers are seen wassailing at Redbyrd Orchard Cider in New York. Courtesy Redbyrd Orchard Cider “Here We Come A-wassailing” has been a popular Christmas anthem since the first English ...

The ancient tradition of wassailing - which involves blessing apple orchards to ensure a good harvest - is enjoying a resurgence according to a folklore group. Wassailing, which dates to Anglo-Saxon ...

The centuries-old tradition of wassailing is making a comeback in rural England, with rituals and revelry meant to chase away evil spirits and the winter blues. A costumed crowd making its way to a ...

Morris dancers have celebrated the ancient custom of wassailing, said to prepare orchards for the new year. Wassailing is a traditional luck-bringing custom associated with apple orchards dating back ...

Just after eight o’clock on a bitterly cold Somerset night, and I feel like an unwitting extra in The Wicker Man. On one side of the apple orchard, Morris men dance, stamp and smash sticks, gaudy ...

PARCHMENT, MI — From carolers to a Christmas tree decorating contest, this year's Parchment Wassailing promises something for everyone who comes out for the Dec. 4 festivities. Altogether, 22 ...

Interest in the centuries-old tradition is growing - Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Europe “How many have never been to a wassail before?” asked the man in the ivy crown. Half of those sitting around ...

Here We Come a-Wassailing: Lucie Skeaping investigates an ancient musical tradition whereby people went from door to door singing carols and were rewarded with hot mulled cider. Show more Lucie ...

Strange things are happening in Devon's orchards right now. Kings and Queens are leading processions through the trees, people are dipping bread in tubs of hot cider, then firing shotguns at them. But ...

Wassailing is a traditional German drinking ritual, aimed to promote a good cider apple harvest over the course of the following year. It has been occurring in England since before Shakespeare’s time ...