Last year I commenced my ‘Discovering The Sidhe’ during March because I had run series on Brighid and Gobnait before I got to my ‘Sidhe’ series.
Perhaps I should focus on Brighid more this year, because in Ireland the first two weeks of February are going to be well dedicated to celebrating the ‘Brighid 1500 Festival’. 1500 because this is based on recording Brighid’s death as being in the year 524 AD, and this year is 1500 years later.
I will not be talking much about ‘Brighid 1500’, though, because there are, and will be, plenty of professional writers and filmmakers coverage. I will probably post links to such writers, performers, and filmmakers later in this series
The main events of ‘Brighid 1500’ with celebrity concerts, light shows, and other performances will be focused around Kildare. Also at Faughart in North Louth, told of as Brighid’s birthplace, is hosting a grand festival there too.
There will be other events at Brighid related sites, spaces, and relics around Ireland too. I will be going to local holy wells and a book launch of a folklore book by our local Edwina Guckian.
Added to the ‘1500’ festival is that 2024 will be the second year of the ‘St. Brighid’s Day’ public holiday. This year, this public holiday is on Monday 5th February, the day after the day of the sidereal calculated cross quarter point.
St’ Brighid’s Day now is truly an event that is beyond celebrating Brighid’s life and legacy. St. Brighid’s Day now beautifully aligns values that seem to have been championed by Brighid, through the stories told about her and her life. The values of biodiversity protection, sustainability, social justice, education and communication through the arts are among what we may also associate with Brighid. Many women are guided through living that work through their own seemingly Brighid inspired inspirations.
I will include a Brighid edition within this ‘Discovering The Sidhe’ series, but not as multi edition series like I did last year.
With Brighid stories we may hear and read a lot about hearths and fires. But, to me, the most potent traditions within the Brighid folklore is water. Especially the customs and practices of staring into water at Imbolc time.
Through the next edition of this series I will explore ‘Discovering The Sidhe’ through water.
During this 2024 cycle of my ‘Nature Folklore’ articles and talks I want to share much more of my own personal experiences that seem to link in with the folklore and customs told. My feeling is that there is plenty of wonderful reference content available, including 100s of citations in books, that are engaging to look up, find, and read.
But to me, folklore is more about ‘experiences’ and today we often say ‘connection’. Without that, I think folklore remains a colourful but lifeless history that can sometimes feel as if it has been locked up.
I hope that through sharing my experiences with folklore, you can feel and become free at sharing your own passionate and stories, no matter how ridiculous they may seem.
Visions are visions no matter what words we use to share them.
For me I have a strong foundation belief that the conduit to all of the ‘Nature Folklore’ I share is through these three words - water, life, Sidhe. Hold any thoughts of that until Part 2 of this series where I will explain this much more.
For the rest of this edition I would like to talk about a custom and tradition that is very close to me, and for me represents the transition from Winter into this Imbolc to Spring time. This is not an Irish tradition at all, though some Irish people are engaging in it due to the influence of some of us ‘blow ins’.
I am referring to what is called ‘Wassailing’, and this is part of Apple Folklore that is one of my own favourite ‘Nature Folklore’ indulgences. During most January times since I was a child I was involved in some kind of Wassailing gathering
I believe the reason ‘Wassailing’, or something similar, did not become widespread in Ireland earlier is due to most Irish people not having access to apple trees, or any trees, because since Norman times, all trees became very much the domain of the ‘elite’. Through the rest of Ireland, the land had become quite stripped of their trees except the very wild ones such as willow, hawthorn, blackthorn, and sometimes hazel, rowan, and crab apples.
This is very strange because before potatoes arrived in Ireland, Apples were a very important staple food through winter in Ireland, but this gradually seems to have become substituted with hawthorn, blackthorn and crabapple jellies and vinegars for health through winter challenges.
So during my past over 22 years living in Ireland I have my own Wassailing quite private. We had apple trees within our Carrowcrory Labyrinth Gardens. There are sturdy apple trees where I now live but my Wassailing has faded. Maybe I can still change that this year.
What is called ‘Wassailing’ is the blessing of our local fruit trees, especially Apple trees, as well as blessing our local community. To me, I was brought up believing that Apples are the carriers of our ‘wishes’.
When we approach holy wells we may often describe those as being ‘wishing wells’. At these wells, we call upon entities of the wells to hold our wishes such as the ‘Sidhe’ and the fairies, or maybe a ‘well goddess’. Though it is very rare to see an apple tree by a holy well, I do feel the two are very similar.
From older tradition, possibly Medieval, Wassailing was said to be performed on the ‘Old Twelvey Night’, and today that would be 17th January with our current calendars. Hence why I am trying to get this edition to you by the 17th. 17th January was also the 12th Night, Epiphany, on older Julian calendars.
Many local traditions have now altered this to the 6th or 7th January on our now accepted Gregorian calendars, and the community gathered around then for some ‘Wassailing’.
But really, until the past 200 years, I do not think country people bothered with precise calendars. This was for the ‘gentry’ and any ‘nerdy scholars’ within a community. The Moon would have marked the best time, and a New Moon in January would be perfect.
Though disputed with several people I discuss this with, I believe Wassailing, as we know it, is of Saxon origin. There’s a Saxon call out, ‘waes pu hael’, that translates as ‘be in good health’.
Today we relate ‘Wassailing’ to apple trees and cider, but there seems to be similar celebrations related to ale, and well before hops were used in ale. Also similar celebrations around Europe for calling on wine vines and olive tree protection.
Into late Medieval times, and maybe later, the call out of ‘waes pu hael’, shortened to ‘waes hael’, that was also combining the Norse call of ‘ves heill’
Wassailing was really the blessing of the eldest Apple tree in an orchard and belief that it would spread that blessing around all trees in the orchard. That’s what I have focused on during all of my past Wassailing.
Sometimes the eldest Apple tree was cut down to become the year’s later Maypole. If so, then it was the second eldest Apple tree that was blessed with Wassailing.
The Apple orchard Wassailing blessings have now returned to the orchards but for a while, ‘Wassailing’ became a door to door sharing blessing and fundraising activity. This eventually mimicked the success of guising and mumming folk drama activities.
It seems Wassailing was truly around during the transition from Saxon into Norman times when it became a ritual of exchange between the peasants and their feudal lords. There seemed to be superstition among the elite lords that the peasants, the pagans, had a collective spell that could curse them if they enforced too much austerity and extreme slavery upon their peasants. So at Wassailing time the lords are said to have been very generous at gifting food, drink, maybe clothing, and maybe some currency money too.
Maybe this is the seed origin to Christmas bonuses and Christmas parties that employers host today?
Sadly, over the centuries door to door wassailing became abusive as ‘ruffian’ lads became more aggressive towards the people they called on, such as threatening damaging their home and gardens if they were not paid enough for their calling.
I will explain more of how the Wassailing tradition changed again when I return to this subject next year.
The overall blessing custom, in the orchard these days, is a community gathering with three steps.
1) Bless the eldest Apple tree by placing cider soaked cinnamon bread in it’s branches.
2) Pour some of the last season’s cider on that Apple tree’s roots
3) A dance for the people present to bless everyone for a healthy year ahead.
Then some feasting after the blessing dancing, and I will explain more about the Wassailing feasting customs next year too.
At the start of 2025, I will include much more about Apple Wassailing to conclude my 2024 winter series of ‘Winter Mischief & Magic’, rather than start this ‘Discovering The Sidhe’ edition.
Through Part 2, I will explore ‘Discovering The Sidhe Through Water’ that gets right to the heart and soul of this series.
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When I was growing up, we had wassail as part of the holiday festivities. For our purposes, wassail was a hot drink of apple cider with lots of spices simmered in it and usually a bit of orange juice added. To this day, I simmer that in the house when holiday guests are coming. It makes the house smell fabulous. I didn't know about blessing apples trees. Not too surprising since apple doesn't usually grow in Texas.
My late friend and mentor Stephen Buhner told me that when the Apples fall to the ground in autumn and begin to ferment in the sun, the trees drink in the cider of their own fruit's fermentation and that would ease them into their long slumber. I have wondered if Wassailing helps them in their winter dreaming for this very reason.