Wassailing

Posted on 2013/01/06 21:13:13 (January 2013).

[Sunday 6th January 2013]
I'd developed a bit of an interest in the ancient custom of wassailing recently - a (presumably pagan) ceremony which involves blessing the apple trees in the hope of a good crop of apples next Autumn. I had briefly entertained the notion of some sort of jaunt to the West country this month to try and take part in one (in the hope of it being accompanied with some excellent local cider) but this didn't seem eminently practical with a baby.

Instead, we settled for the next best thing, as I discovered there were actually wassail celebrations in London - at Bankside, in front of the Globe Theatre. Moreover this had been going on for 18 years apparently, and somehow I had never heard about it.

The event was held this afternoon, when the Thames was at low tide - this was particularly atmospheric as a big part of the event is the Green Man arriving on a boat. I'd never noticed before, but there are actually steps down to a "beach" at Bankside, and so we stood there to wait for the Green Man, which guaranteed us a great view on his arrival. The Green Man was an awfully nice chap, and after disembarking thanked us all for coming. To my surprise there were also a gaggle of paparazzi waiting for him.

On the downside though, standing on the beach meant we didn't have a a particularly good vantage point when the festivities began - back up the steps in front of the Globe Theatre - where a surprisingly large crowd had amassed. So after a while of not really being able to see what was going on, we decided to give up and retreat to the Tate Modern. There we sat in one of the cafes for a bit, had a coffee, and Chie fed Erika. I then left the girls there to look at some art for a bit whilst I went to see if I could get another glimpse of the festivities, which by this point had moved on to the George Inn, where again there were surprisingly large crowds (and the longest queue for the bar I've ever seen there).

Despite having hardly been able to see anything after the Green Man's initial arrival, I did find the whole thing had an interesting atmosphere, and was if nothing else a break from the normal weekend routines we'd otherwise be adhering to. That said, I was rather disappointed by the conspicuous absence of any cider at the event - I had assumed it would be an inextricable part. So on the way home I took a diversion by way of the Bree Louise near Euston to fulfil that requirement.

Erika chan sikkari mterune!

Posted by yoko at 2013/01/09 10:50:15.

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