Wassail Celebration at Rose Hill Farm Revives an Ancient Orchard Tradition

Every January, when the Hudson Valley hillsides lie frozen under a wan winter sky, an ancient English custom roars to life among the apple trees at Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook. On Sunday, January 25, from noon until sunset, the farm will host its annual Wassail Celebration, a day that invites the community to step out of winter hibernation, make some joyful noise, and collectively bless the orchard for the coming season. (A $15 donation is requested to help cover costs.)

Borrowing from a ritual that predates Shakespeare and stretches back through medieval England and even earlier pagan soil-blessed rites, “wassailing” historically meant more than gathering for mulled cider and music; it was a hopeful invocation of health and bounty. The word itself comes from an Old Norse and Old English toast meaning “be hale,” an exhortation to good health whose spirit survives in the cheerful exhortations and shared mugs of spiced drink passed among revelers.

At Rose Hill, Wassail has become a signature midwinter moment. Beginning at noon on the taproom lawn, craft stations will offer the chance to fashion winter-foraged crowns, hand-decorate bell-covered noise-makers, or—for the adventurous—build your own torch to carry in procession. The main ritual starts around 4:15pm, when the crowd ascends the orchard hill, pots and pans in hand, to bang out cheers and chants that echo against dormant branches. Participants are encouraged to bring bread to hang on the trees and voices ready to holler “Wassail!” in unison as a blessing and benediction for fruit yet to come.

This modern Hudson Valley incarnation is an embodied appreciation of the land and the cycles that sustain us. Between local food vendors, music in the warm taproom, and the crackling fellowship of cider lovers gathered under winter’s fading light, the Wassail Celebration at Rose Hill is as much about community and gratitude as it is about apples. In a season defined by long nights and fallow fields, it’s a rare and rousing toast to spring’s promise—and to the enduring joy of cheering on a future harvest together.

RSVP via this link.