What would you consider to be the five lessons learned from tech weary brits reviving apple tree Wassailing tradition?

5 Lessons Learned from Tech-Weary Brits Reviving Apple Tree 'Wassailing' Tradition

CHEPSTOW, Wales - Wassail! yelled the crowd. Cider for everyone!

In an orchard by a Welsh castle, hundreds of people gathered to wish good health to the apple trees in a centuries-old tradition enjoying a revival.

As mulled cider — a warm alcoholic drink made from fermented apple juice — was handed around, a dozen hobby horses swayed eerily to folk music.

Made from real horse skulls mounted on poles and carried by someone cloaked in a bed sheet, they are bedecked with ribbons and shiny baubles glinting in the eye sockets.

Singing, drinking, banging saucepans and hanging toasted bread on tree branches are all part of wassailing along with the colorful horses' heads, which are a Welsh variation.

It's a celebration of life, nature, and the community, said amateur folk dancer Richard Worrin who helped organize this year's wassail in the Welsh border town of Chepstow.

Wassailing has Pagan roots and is a far cry from Worren's day job as a murder squad detective. You need an antidote, he laughed, stressing participants did not need to be folklore experts to join in.

Wassailing was for everybody, he said, a mid-winter opportunity to get together and have fun.

I just love the feel of it all lots of drinking, meeting people and having a laugh. Simple as that.

Traditionally held on Twelfth Night, wassailing is intended to ward off bad spirits from orchards ensuring a bountiful crop of fruit.

In decline for many decades, it has made a comeback in recent years especially among people tired of living their lives online some modern-day wassailers told AFP.

Basically, we're missing the connection to our ancestry and the land itself, said Kerry Milburn, 32-year-old IT analyst from Swansea, Wales.

From small beginnings in 2010 Chepstow's wassail has grown to become a day-long family-friendly event including dancing by three different sides or teams of Morris dancers.

Also included is the Mari Lwyd, the Welsh wassailing ritual involving hobby horses. It used to be carried from house to house by groups of men who would eventually be invited to share food and drink with householders.

Dan de la Bedoyere, 47, also an IT worker from Glastonbury said he was delighted the pagan traditions he loved to honor were reestablishing themselves.

The wonderful thing about folk traditions — if we can revive them and give them a modern twist — is that they are such fun.

The revival of wassailing is part of what some experts say is a wider trend of people searching for meaning in their lives beyond just working and spending time online.

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