Yesterday evening saw the third iteration of the Chard Wassail in the community orchard at the rear of Chard Museum, a collaborative event put on by the Museum and Chard Town Council. 159 people enjoyed this marvellous tradition of singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year. The purpose of wassailing is to awake the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in autumn.
Every Wassail ceremony is a little different. The Chard Wassail saw Blackdown Morris not only perform music and dance, but also new for this year the inclusion of a Mummer’s play, adding humour and entertainment to the event. The cider was kindly provided by Rawlins Family Cider. Chard’s Town Crier, Stuart Cummings once again led the ceremony, which took part in the museum’s barn for the most part before parading to the orchard, the route there being ably lit up courtesy of Garry Shortland. This year a new Wassail Queen, Crystal, selected the trees, her beautiful crown of greenery produced by Doreen Toms. She presented cider to the tree’s roots, this was followed with cider-soaked toast being added to the branches and then a considerable amount of noise pursued to scare off the evil spirits!
Attendees joined in and sung the official Wassail song to the trees that Hannah of Blackdown Morris led, giving everyone a little practice in the barn beforehand. Returning to the barn Blackdown Morris gave a couple more performances, finishing off the evening with a little audience participation!
It was great to see this event, once again so well attended. Thank you to all who came along on a cold January night and we look forward to the event returning next year, on Sunday 18th January 2026.