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Members of the Leominster Morris lead the crowd from the Boot Inn in Orleton near Leominster to the local apple orchard to take part in a their Twelfth Night wassailing ceremony on January 6, 2016 in Herefordshire, England. The annual tradition sees morris dancers and mummers gathering at the pub before processing 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. They then return to the pub to perform a traditional mummers play, a traditional English folk drama, based on the legend of St George and said to date back over a thousand years. The tradition of wassailing, which differs from place to place in cider producing counties has its roots in ancient pagan traditions and is held after Christmas as a plea 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. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
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