Children take part in parade to ward off evil spirits (From Wiltshire Times)

Children take part in parade to ward off evil spirits

11:16am Tuesday 2nd February 2010

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A wassailing parade to ward off evil spirits was held by children from Holt Pre-School in the orchard at the National Trust's Courts Garden on Friday.

In keeping with an ancient West Country tradition the children learned a chant, and made flags and rattles to make lots of noise.

The two youngest children were appointed king and queen, and poured a wassail drink on the roots of the oldest apple tree, and placed bread in the branches, to bring good luck and a good apple harvest.

Pre-school leader Bridget Casey said: “It was brilliant, we had a really lovely morning just avoiding the rain, it was a lot of fun.

“The idea came up last year when we planted some apple trees, but this time we studied the tradition of wassailing.

“All credit to Courts Garden for preparing such a fun day.”

The children made rattles out of bottle tops, and made block painted bunting to wrap around the trees.

For all the hard work there was warm spiced apple juice and apple cake, prepared from the trees themselves.

The event was part of the guardianship project between the pre-school and the National Trust.

Gardener Rob Curtis, who runs the partnership, said: “The idea is to introduce the children to horticulture and the environment.

“We have an upcoming project in March where the children will be making birds nests and dens with willow.”

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