| Where: | Formerly at Stroud, Gloucestershire - town centre, Museum in the Park and Subscription Rooms |
| When: | Formerly Second Saturday in January |
| Time: | Formerly From 10 am with Procession at 12.30 and Wassailing at 1pm (outside Sub Rooms) and 3pm (Museum in the Park) and Revels at 7pm (Sub Rooms) |
Wassailing is a traditional luck-bringing custom dating back at least a few hundred years; the word has its origins in the Old English toast “waes hael” meaning Good Health. Wassailing is currently enjoying a much overdue revival to brighten up the dark days after Christmas, and there are many events around the country, mainly in January but not invariably so. At Stroud, the modern revival of wassailing was a rapidly growing phenomenon based upon the ancient traditions of the locality – it only began in 2014 yet already attracted hundreds of performers and even more spectators. You could expect singing, morris dancing, drama and a parade of beasts including local character the Broad, a hobby-horse-like bull figure with horns, peculiar to the district. The Broad chased the wassailers when they demanded entry to the Sub Rooms following a singing session outside, before all were invited in to share beer and cake. There are a few traditional carols associated with wassailing and Stroud has its very own version (see the website link for words and music); Stroud also has a special decorated wassail bowl, which was used for collecting donations, so don’t be tempted to take a swig. During the evening, the festivities continued at the Sub Rooms, based on traditional Twelfth Night entertainments including more mummers plays, music, singing, a ceilidh,King Bean and Queen Pea and maybe a drink or two…
Helpful Hints
It was cancelled in 2023 and hasn’t taken place since- I conclude that the event is currently lapsed.
In addition, on selected dates through December and into January, the Wassailers may be visiting local venues to perform plays, songs and music which follows the Gloucestershire tradition of visiting wassails, where the entertainers visit the audience rather than vice versa (see website for details).
It was advisable to arrive early as the town gets very busy and parking was a challenge. Wassail booklets were available at Tourist Info office in the Subscription Rooms if you got there soon enough (supplies were limited) and they included the words for the wassail songs.
For the full schedule of events and timings, you needed to visit the event’s own website (link below).
Click here for the event website: http://stroudwassail.com
and here for the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stroudwassail/
Many thanks to Robin Burton for all the helpful information and 3 photos!
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