In Somerset for Old Twelvey Night
© Guy Edwardes/Minden Picture
Mist on the moors. The custom of wassailing
Somewhere under that dense fog, the people of Somerset may be marching from house to house, singing songs and dancing, and asking for a drink or snack in return. If that sounds like Christmas carolling, you’re right. But it’s the ancient tradition of wassailing – a practice that usually takes place on Twelfth Night, 5 or 6 January. So why do the people living in this farmland moor wassail on 17 January? Because in Somerset (and other cider-producing areas of England), locals observe the pre-Gregorian calendar Twelfth Night, which falls on today’s date. They may even stage an ‘apple wassail’ with a trip to a local cider orchard, to sing and make noise for a good harvest in the new year.
Related Images
Salisbury Cathedral with grazing flock of sheep, Wiltshire
Shetland Sheep, a traditional, hardy breed of the Northern Isles in Scotland
African bush elephant herd, Okavango Delta, Botswana
Elephants in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Icelandic sheep ready for réttir
Decorated cows for the Almabtrieb, Tannheimer Tal, a valley in Tyrol, Austria
Goats in an argan tree near Essaouira, Morocco
Icelandic sheep for the first night of the Yule Lads
Bing Today Images
Basilica of San Francesco di Paola, Naples, Italy
Jan 17, 2026
Brown pelican, San Diego, California, USA
Jan 17, 2025
Muniellos Nature Reserve in Asturias, Spain
Jan 17, 2023
Rydal Water in the Lake District, Cumbria
Jan 17, 2022
Agoyán waterfall near Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador
Jan 17, 2021
Heavy frost in Las Médulas, Spain
Jan 17, 2017
Hellroaring Peak in the Whitefish Range of Montana
Jan 17, 2016
