What a wonderful day as two of my communities came together, The Roots gang to plant an orchard and the Ingleheart Singers to entertain the crowd and then to sing Wassail to welcome the trees to their new home! Enjoy the gallery. Click on any photo for a bigger version and the caption.
Early instructions from Matty
Fruit trees will go where the blue squares are markedAll setting off to find a place to dig
Setting off to choose a spot
Us digging a hole for our tree
Busy diggers
Our plum tree is in. Now to go home to change ready to sing this afternoon.
As we leave, there’s a rainbow!
Choir singing the Newdigate Wassail
Trees all in and mulched.
Children giving bread and cider to the trees
- Symbolic Offering: The toast represents a gift to the spirits inhabiting the orchard, specifically the “Apple Tree Man” or tree spirits, ensuring they are well-fed and inclined to bring a good harvest.
- Attracting Guardians: The bread attracts robins, which were historically considered guardian spirits of the orchard.
- Fertility Ritual: The act is part of a wider fertility ritual that includes pouring cider on the roots and making noise to wake the trees from hibernation.
- Representing Abundance: The bread symbolizes the previous year’s harvest and acts as a pledge for a fruitful return in the following autumn.
The ceremony is rooted in ancient pagan customs to ensure the health of the trees (from the Old English “waes hael” meaning “be in good health”).