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Join other fun folx and community member at Mt. Joy Orchard on Saturday, February 24th for a good ole fashion WASSAIL! Wassailing is a celebratory tradition promoting good cheer and a sumptuous harvest in the coming year. If you have ceremonies of your own that you're comfortable bringing and sharing, all the merrier!

We can't guarantee snow, but we can always slide down the hill on cardboard if need be! Bring a sled! Bring a mug! Bring a bowl and a spoon.

Prior to this event, from 2pm-5pm we will be hosting a Tree Pruning Workshop & Workparty.

Rain Date: Sunday 2/25

More to know about Wassailing:
The purpose of wassailing is to awaken the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the Autumn. The ceremonies of each wassail vary from village to village but they generally all have the same core elements. A wassail King and Queen lead the song or a processional tune to be played/sung from one orchard to the next; the wassail Queen is then lifted into the boughs of the tree where she places toast soaked in wassail from the clayen cup as a gift to the tree spirits (and to show the fruits created the previous year). In some counties, the youngest boy or "Tom Tit" will stand in for the Queen and hang the cider-soaked toast in the tree. Then an incantation is usually recited:

"Old Apple tree, old apple tree;
We've come to wassail thee;
To bear and to bow apples enow;
Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full;
Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs."

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NOTE: This event is being promoted by Resilience Hub, but is not an official Resilience Hub event. If you have an event that you'd like us to consider for promotion on our channels, please email nick@resiliencehub.org

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Events in Portland, ME
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Sustainable Energy

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