Wassail! Reinventing ‘tradition’ in contemporary wassailing customs in southern England

Urban Farm DB summary

This research investigated how the historic custom of orchard wassailing is reinvented in contemporary practices, including in community orchards, city farms, and public gardens, in southern England. Through in-depth interviews with organizers of local wassails, it was shown that wassailing, traditionally rural, is now popular in urban areas with little history of fruit farming. Organizers modify historical elements due to contemporary regulations or social attitudes, yet mobilize the notion of "tradition" to authenticate and reassert the local identity of the event, even when recently reinvented.