RSPB Sherwood Forest, Edwinstowe, and Bracken Farm, North Muskham, hold Wassail events to keep ancient tradition alive
Traditions dating back hundreds of years were honoured at special events in North Muskham and Edwinstowe over the weekend.
Wassailing is a traditional Twelfth Night custom that involves singing carols, drinking wassail, and blessing apple trees that dates back to the middle ages.
BrackenXcapes glamping site, at Bracken Farm, North Muskham, this year held it’s third Wassail on Saturday, January 18, attended by around 100 people.
Farm owners, husband and wife Nigel and Laura Catt, created their cider apple orchard back in 2021 and have since expanded it to 180 trees, and are keen to keep the ancient tradition alive within the village.
Alongside the banging pots and pans to scare away evil spirits, and the singing and toasting the good health of the trees with mulled cider, there was also entertainment from the Sherburn Bartley Sanders Folk trio, The Basket Singers and The Muskham Pinkies — a theatrical group keeping the traditional plough play alive.
Milestone Brewery provided bar facilities for the evening.
Nigel said: “It went really well, there was about 100 people in attendance — and the weather remained decent for us.”
Elsewhere, hundreds of visitors attended the RSPB’s Sherwood Forest on Saturday and Sunday (January 18 and 19) for the annual Wassailing Weekend, led by the Sheriff of Nottingham and the Return of the Whitby Krampus Run.
Krampus are celebrated in Alpine folklore at wintertime, and the Whitby Krampus Run has been attending Sherwood dressed as the fearsome creatures for the past four years to join in the Wassail.
Robin Hood, Maid Marian and Friar Tuck from The Sherwood Outlaws joined forces with the Sheriff of Nottingham to bless the health of the Major Oak for the year ahead, and also to see off the Krampus.
In addition to parades from and to the Major Oak on each day, there were music and dance performances from Rattlejag Morris, The Lady Bay Revellers and the Hucknall Ukelele Group, and a traditional mummers play from the Calverton Real Ale and Plough Play Preservation Society.
