By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The custom of wassailing the apple trees is a familiar one for Steve Jackson, who grew up in Hereford, England a major apple-producing area in the middle of the country that is famous for its apple cider.
Mr. Jackson, whose family moved to Pennington from England three weeks ago, was one of many visitors to Terhune Orchard Sunday afternoon, which held its 16th annual “Wassailing the Apple Trees” celebration.
”Wassail” is medieval English for “good health.” During the Middle Ages, groups of young men would travel from orchard to orchard to wassail the apple trees waking them up and scaring away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest.
While wassailing the trees dipping chunks of bread in cider and hanging them on the trees as a gift to the tree spirits is an ancient custom, Mr. Jackson recalled a more recent interpretation of the tradition.
”We had ‘apple scrumping’ when I was young. The young guys would go into the garden and take all the apples from the trees,” he said with a smile.
Sunday afternoon, Mr. Jackson’s children 6-year-old Millie and 7-year-old Jamie learned more about wassailing at Terhune Orchard.
The Jackson family joined visitors who sang songs and chanted a prayer to the spirits of the orchard “Spirit of the orchard, spirit of the land, bless this place so beautiful and grand. Keep it safe from unseen evil and blight, through long winter days and cold winter nights. Great spirit of the orchard, great spirit of the land, a spring rebirth we beseech of you, and a healthy harvest season, too.”
Spurred on by Terhune Orchard staffer Elaine Madigan, the visitors made enough noise to scare away the evil spirits. They banged on bells and shook assorted noisemakers handed out by Terhune Orchard staff to scare off any evil spirits that might have been lurking in the trees.
”This is our 16th annual ‘wassailing the apple trees’ at Terhune Orchard. We have more variety of apples in the (farm) store than we have ever had. You’ve been doing your work. Now, it’s time to do it again,” Ms. Madigan said, urging the crowd to bang louder and make more noise.
”Now, we have to seal the deal,” she said.
That meant dipping pieces of bread in cider and placing them on tree branches. Young and old alike picked up chunks of bread from a basket and soaked them in cider, and then searched for a tree branch on which to hang it.
Wassailing at Terhune Orchard means more than shaking noisemakers and dipping bread in cider.
There was plenty of entertainment from the Handsome Molly Dancers and the Kingsessing Morris Dancers, who danced for the crowd.
The Handsome Molly Dancers dressed in black and painted their faces black or green. The dance tradition arose in the mid-1800s, in the East Anglia region of England. Out-of-work ploughboys would go from house to house, offering to dance for money. If the landowner refused, he might find a burrow ploughed through his yard.
The ploughboys one of whom would dress as a woman would mock the gentlemen. They painted their faces so they would not be recognized by the landowner, who might refuse to hire them in the spring to plough his fields.
The Kingsessing Morris Dancers, who are based in Philadelphia, were invited to participate by the Handsome Molly Dancers. Morris dancing originated in England about 800 years ago, before Christianity took root. The dance was traditionally performed in the spring in farming communities.
Morris dancing celebrates the planting season and the rebirth of life. The dancers wear bells on their knees to wake up the ground. They use sticks to chase away the evil spirits from below and to awaken the ground.
For warmth Sunday afternoon, visitors could stand near small bonfires near the apple orchards. There were plenty of marshmallows to toast in the fire. Some of the more creative visitors wrapped a doughnut around a marshmallow to toast.
And if the bonfires and hot apple cider were not enough to keep the chill at bay, visitors could warm up with Spiced Punch a quartet of musicians while they browsed in Terhune Orchard’s farm store. The musicians were dressed in 19th-century attire and played songs of that era.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Jackson said she was glad to have discovered “Wassailing the Apple Trees” at Terhune Orchard. The family was “looking around” for interesting things to do and thought they would come take a look, she said.

