Medieval music mystery solved!

Here we go a wassailing, among the leaves so green…

Why, if wassailing is caroling from door to door in a CITY, are the leaves green?  Can’t just mean holly decorations, can it?

Wikipedia is wrong!!  Wassailing is (rurally) the practice of maintaining and celebrating an apple orchard, traditionally performed on either Jan 6, Old Christmas Eve (Julian calendar) or Jan 17, Old 12th Nite Eve.  Which was yesterday.  I learned about it first from Wiggly Wiggler’s Xmas 2006 podcast that I reccommend heartily, anyway.  Heather and Phil Gorringe live in rural Herefordshire, on Lower Blakemere Farm, and pronounce it "wah say ling".    NOT "wah sah ling".  Heather says it’s all about trying to get the apple trees to fruit well.  They plan to take a whole bowl of cider with cake and toast to the orchard to hang from the branches, shout and whack the trees to dislodge harmful insects, all of which will attract robins to eat the insects and help the harvest.  There’s also shooting into the air, and a pub visit on tap, pun intended.

Much better than begging from the neighbors, who think I’m whacked out anyway, don’t you think?  All I need is an apple tree.