January 14 2023
January 8th/9th
This year the Wassail will also include the International Mummers Festival.
The award winning mummers festival is an extraordinary event previously held in Gloucester and Bath. Featuring workshops, symposium and lots of Mumming, bringing participants from across the UK. Previous guest mummers have come from USA, Canada, Ireland and Spain.
A beautifully made programme about the Stroud Wassail
By Philip Booth of Stroud Community TV
Thank you to everyone who took part in the Stroud Wassail 2015, you made it awesome.
Special thanks to our supporters:
Planning for the Stroud Wassail 2016 starts here.
Saturday January 9th 2016 – put it in your diary!
A new festival of winter traditions
A new winter festival to wish you a healthy and prosperous new year. In the darkest days, the town will be brought to life with wassail songs, colourful costumes, music, morris dancing, wassail bowls, hobby horses and The Broad.
The origins of wassailing are over 1000 years old, as a toast to wish your companions good health. In the Stroud area this became a tradition of visiting neighbours around 12th night with a wassail bowl and a song, to wish them a prosperous new year. There are many wassail songs from the district, we will sing The Stroud Wassail.
Stroud Wassail features The Broad – a kind of hobby horse in the form of a cow. This would accompany the wassailers.
There are opportunities for you to learn wassail songs, make costumes and join in the procession, and there will be lots of morris dancing to enjoy.
The festival will take place in the streets of Stroud, Subscription Rooms Forecourt and the Museum in the Park.
