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Members of the Leominster Morris lead the crowd from the Hobson Brewery in Frith Common to the nearby apple orchard to take part in a torchlit Oldfields Orchard Cider wassailing ceremony ahead of today's Twelfth Night on January 4, 2017 near Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire, England. The annual tradition sees morris dancers and mummers gather before a procession to a local orchard to perform a ceremony that involves placing a cider-soaked piece of Christmas cake on the branches of an apple tree and sprinkling cider around its roots, before lighting torches, dancing and singing the Wassail Song as to ensure a good crop of cider apples for the year ahead. The tradition of wassailing, which differs from place to place in cider producing counties, has its roots in ancient pagan traditions and is held on various dates after Christmas as a plea to the spirits of the orchard to provide a good crop, is seeing something of a modern revival as cider makers across the West Country reintroduce the ritual of toasting their apple trees for good luck. In the UK, January 5th is generally observed as the last day of Christmas festivities as it is the eve of the Epiphany. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
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