THE APPLE TREE WASSAIL. 53 



It may be interesting to consider them briefly in detail as 

 they appear to-day. 



1. SONG AND DANCE. I cannot obtain any very clear idea 

 of the dance itself. Whatever it may have been in the past, it 

 does not seem to-day to be a set figure; it rather has the nature 

 of a wild gambol round a tree by a number of men joining 

 hands in a ring. Probably the fact that theY have already 

 wassailed each other in cider before setting out has spme 

 effect upon their gyrations. The words of the song are at 

 the present day more or less doggerel. As given by Mr. Sharp 

 they run as follows: 



Old Apple Tree we'll wassail thee 



And hoping thou wilt bear 



The Lord doth know where we shall be 



To be merry another year: 



So blow well and bear well 



And so merry let us be 



Let every man drink up his can 



And health to the old Apple Tree. 



Then follows a spoken piece, cheering, shouting, stamping and 

 gun-firing. I have come to the conclusion, as a result of 

 comparison between this and similar ceremonies, that the 

 words have in comparatively modern times been substituted 

 for more ancient formula having practically the same meaning. 

 It is perfectly clear that the wish expressed is for a good crop 

 of apples in the ensuing year. 



It is rather curious that, in the Sedgemoor district, verses of 

 the New Year Wassail Song are added to the Apple Tree 

 Wassail. 



2. SHOUTING, GUN-FIRING, ETC. The use of gunpowder, a 

 comparatively modern invention, has led certain corres- 

 pondents on this subject to suggest that we have a survival of 

 a primitive method of pruning. The theory is that in early 

 clays pruning was accomplished by beating the tree with a 

 stick; and subsequently the firing of shot into the branches 

 was used to obtain the same result. I am inclined myself to 

 think that the gun-liring is merely a method of making a noise. 

 Lieut. Latrobe-Bateman in describing his Congo Explorations 



