A Christmas Wassail At Oldbury Rep

A Christmas Wassail is a real, traditional touch of Christmas, one firmly entrenched in the folk lore of Christmas past, before our modern ideas of Christmas developed.  A Wassail is a celebration, and exploration of Christmas in story and song, with the lighthearted moments being meshed into the darker sides of the festive season.

A Wassail is actually a drink. A hot, spiced drink that was part of an ancient English tradition that involved drinking to the health of others, and so was an integral part of Christmas. Wassailing is a centuries-old tradition that involves drinking to the health of others, often while singing. It became a key part of Christmas and New Year celebrations, and, in recent years has been resurrected, with many Theatres and community halls now hosting their own Christmas Wassail which is a celebration of music, of stories, of laughter and of Christmas merriment.

I went to watch and take part in a Christmas Wassail on Friday night at the Oldbury Rep theatre. This is the second time I had watched this particular company, the Oldbury players, perform a Wassail, which was accompanied by the brilliant choir Enchant. I loved the show, which is warm and welcoming, like a friendly hug, with plenty of opportunities to join in with classic favourites like a Black Country version of ‘the 12 days of Christmas’ and ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’, along with folk classics like the beautiful Gaudette and a range of traditional carols. There were Christmas cracker worthy jokes (deliberate of course), poems that talked of both the joy of Christmas, and the biblical traditions of the Nativity, and Christmas stories and songs that were not only performed by the company, but had also been written by the company too.

If you have never experienced a Wassail, there are still many taking place around the country in the lead up to December 25th. You could also check out the fantastic book, The Dead of Winter, by Sarah Clegg, which I have been devouring this festive season. It gives a great background to lots of festive traditions and stories.  There’s a good review of this book here at Bookmunch.

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