Newdigate Wassail – Learning Tracks

Wassailing is the old English tradition of visiting houses and blessing apple trees with song, cider and toast. The word Wassail literally translates to “Good Health”. The Newdigate Wassail is a traditional Wassail from the town of Newdigate in East Surrey and is sung every year on Twelfth Night in Guildford by morris teams and mummers as they visit the town’s hostelries, chalking white crosses on their beams to bring them good luck for the coming year.

You will recognise the melody of the Newdigate Wassail as it bears a close resemblance to that of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. To be sung in your best wassailing voices!

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