Hello,
A warm, cosy welcome to this week’s newsletter.
We finished issue 123 last week and it should be landing on your doorsteps this weekend. If you want to place an order, you can get your copy delivered by clicking here.
Iris and I have had some fun home education adventures this week. We went to our local museum, explored an ancient Sussex tradition and read a heap of books.
We’ve been gathering books and resources to learn about the Chinese New Year – I'll post our favourites next week.
What else have we been doing?
Blessing the Apple Trees
We went to the wassailing event at Weald and Downland open air museum last weekend. We joined a procession through the old buildings and into the orchard, shaking tambourines and rattles. In the orchard there was a ceremony to dowse the trees with bread, cider and juice. We sang to them to ensure a good harvest.
Wassailing the apple trees developed in the apple growing counties of the south-west and west of England, and also in Sussex and Kent. Wassail comes from the Saxon, ‘Waes Hael’, which means good health. In times when a good harvest and healthy animals were essential to survival, ceremonies were performed to ensure the health of the crops, animals and the people. Good health for all was especially important at this time of year, when the days were at their coldest and life hung in the balance.
Here's some more information and ideas for hosting your own wassail. And some lovely wassail songs from Alexandra Park Food Forest, sung by Clem and Rosa.
