Wassailing by Colin Cater & Karen Cater £16.99

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"Wassail!" a drinking salutation from Pagan Europe was part of the English language before 1066. But what is the custom of "Wassailing"?

We trace its development from Medieval origins, when the Norse "Waes Hael!" ("Be healthy!") rang through courtly celebrations of the Twelve Days of Christmas, using ornate Wassail Bowls brimming with spiced drinks. From this came visiting and begging customs blessing houses and people, farms, animals and crops, and the ‘apple tree wassailing’ we know today.

By the mid twentieth century wassailing had declined and nearly vanished. Then a handful of ‘Wassail’ songs led folk enthusiasts to reawaken the ancient custom, researching it and with cider enthusiasts returning it to its heartlands of Devon & Somerset; Herefordshire, Gloucestershire & Worcestershire and Kent & Sussex. Since the millennium, ecology and sustainable food ideas have led to community orchards springing up, making wassailing part of their annual tree management cycle, until it has blossomed even in our cities, becoming widespread, with over 200 Wassails in 2013 and many more private ceremonies.

Wassails have a central core of activity based on the past, to spiritually encourage the trees to produce more fruit. This includes noise, processions, gifts to the trees and much drinking. Everyone does it differently, adapting the old ways with camaraderie and good fellowship.

English Ceilidh from the Roots by Roger Watson £6.00

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Before his enforced retirement through ill health, Roger Watson enjoyed a long and distinguished folk career, at different times as singer, musician, songwriter, dance caller, teacher and folk animateur. Early on he was part of both Muckram Wakes and the New Victory Band.

The thirty dances in this book come from his time as Director of TAPS, when he worked extensively with schools and pupils of all ages. Roger believes passionately that tradition needs to constantly reinforce itself with new creativity, and these dances were all written by pupils as the outcome of workshops Roger led.

A Penny for the Ploughboy by Colin Cater Book & CD Set £17.99

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A Penny for the Ploughboys is a book & CD set of the best loved songs and tunes written by Colin Cater, folk singer, musician and folklorist for over forty years, Essex man since 1970. As well as the title song, made famous by Pete Coe, there are songs for Essex like ‘Change at Thorpe le Soken’, and ‘Steam with Santa’.

Many songs celebrate the Turn of the Year from different spiritual perspectives: others give fresh identity to well loved favourites’ like Scarborough Fair, in the manner of the classic Broadsheet Publishers of centuries past.

Colin has explored contemporary folklore: customs, ceremonies, dance and songs for many years researching and writing the annual Hedingham Fair Calendar of Traditional Customs.

Features:

New songs and tunes by Colin Cater, performed by Karen and Colin Cater, with Mary Humphreys and Anahata and Dave Holland

New tunes to well known English folk songs
Live recordings with a chorus of thousands
Colin’s reminiscences on the early folk song club movement.

Photographs of singing, Morris and Molly Dancing
Ideas on re-evaluating concepts of folk tradition
Illustrations by Karen Cater. This fascinating book is illustrated throughout with photos and artwork by Karen Cater; many from Hedingham Fair’s celebrated catalogue.

96 A4 pages, plus free CD.

Tracks include:

Folksongs collected in Cambridgeshire by Mary Humphries £10.00

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Folksongs Collected in Cambridgeshire
Folksongs collected in Cambridgeshire by Mary Humphreys. Hedingham Fair is delighted to announce this publication. Born in North Wales, Mary Humphreys settled in the Fens some years ago and immediately set about uncovering its song heritage. Much of the original recovery took place a century ago through the work of luminaries such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp. However, as Mary dug she found that a young blind woman from Cottenham called Ella Bull was an equally important source of many of the songs.

In all a collection of twenty two songs is presented, many well known but with tunes and words that have lain buried for a long time. The songs are supported with brief notes: much more significant is the historical background on both the singers and the collectors, together with a collection of photographs of the singers and the buildings in which they were living when the songs were recovered. In the last five years, Mary Humphreys and her partner Anahata have established a stellar national reputation as interpreters of these songs and of traditional tunes. Mary is a very theatrical singer, able to hold an audience spellbound.