Wassailing at Greenwich pleasaunce

The only time I hear the words "wassail" and "wassailing" are at Christmas, mostly in the words of the Christmas song "Here we come a wassailing". Wassail is thought to be an Anglo Saxon word meaning good health to you, from wes hail, be healthy.

Wassailing is a Pagan ceremony of singing to fruit trees. It also refers to house visiting, but in this context it is visiting the orchards. It is traditionally done on the 12th night, but nowadays, wassails are hosted between late December and February.

I saw several events listed for the London area in Jan, so went along to the wassail at Greenwich Pleasaunce. A pleasaunce is a secluded part of a garden laid out with trees, walks, etc. The Greenwich pleasuance is a formal, tree-lined garden housing a naval burial site, it also has a cafe, playground and community centre. 

It was formerly The Greenwich Hospital Cemetery from 1857, but it is now a public park and arboretum. The naval burial ground contains the remains of around 3,000 sailors who spent their last days at the local Royal Hospital Greenwich. When the Royal Hospital Greenwich graveyard was judged to be full in the 1840s, the Royal Navy needed a new burial site. In 1857, the admiralty bought an orchard in east Greenwich for use as the new cemetery. 

In 1875, the remains of 3,000 naval pensioners were moved from central Greenwich to this new cemetery. This was to make way for the construction of a railway tunnel. In 1926, the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich (a predecessor of the Royal Borough of Greenwich) acquired the site. The name 'Pleasaunce' came into use shortly after, when the site opened as a public park, [from Royal Greenwich].

The wassail ceremony was held on 14 January. There were various singing performances and some dances by the Greenwich Morris men. People were given sticks to bang together to accompany the songs. 

Words from the common Christmas song -

Here we come a-wassailing Among the leaves so green; Here we come a-wand'ring So fair to be seen.

Love and joy come to you, And to you your wassail too; And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year And God send you a Happy New Year.

There was also a craft area for people to make wreaths and headwear -

The Green Man oversees the wassail -

The purpose of the orchard-visiting wassailing is to awake the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in autumn. There are songs and incantations to the trees. A wassail King and Queen lead the procession through the orchard. Traditionally the wassail Queen is lifted up into the boughs of the tree where she will place toast soaked in Wassail as a gift to the tree spirits (and to show the fruits created the previous year). An incantation is usually recited.

The Greenwich procession -

A piece of bread was hung in the branches and cider poured on the tree. Incidentally there are no apple trees in the Greenwich pleasaunce. 

Some of the graves -

Variegated holly tree

Seville oranges

 In early December I was in Andalusia, which is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It borders Spain's southern coast. The capital is Seville. Its best known export is probably the Seville oranges. These bitter oranges grow on trees lining the city streets. They are very common both in Seville and other towns in the region.

The oranges are ripening in December and are almost ready for harvesting. Large quantities are collected and sent to the UK for marmalade. In Spain they are used mostly for aromatherapy and herbal medicine, but not as a foodstuff.

Trees in Antequera - 

From Wikipedia : "According to legend, the Arabs brought the bitter orange to Seville from East Asia via Iraq around the 10th century to beautify and perfume their patios and gardens, as well as to provide shade. The flowers of the tree are a source of neroli oil, commonly used in perfumery and in skin lotions for massage. In 2021, the municipal water company, Emasesa, began a pilot scheme to use the methane produced as the fruit ferments to generate clean electricity. The company plans to use 35 tonnes of fruit to generate clean energy to power one of the city's water purification plants."

Wikipedia page Bitter Orange says "The bitter orange spread from Southeast Asia via India and Iran to the Islamic world as early as 700 C.E. It was introduced to Spain in the 10th century by the Moors."

Christmas lights draped around an orange tree -

The bitter orange trees are distinguishable from the sweet oranges as they have a double leaf -

There are thought to be over 40,000 orange trees in Seville. They belong to the local government body responsible for them and, as such, any tampering with the oranges or trees could leave you open to prosecution. When the oranges are ready for picking, the local governing body takes on temporary staff to harvest and bag the crop. 

And here they are in my local supermarket, on 10 Jan -

Marmalade is very popular in Britain, mostly as a spread on toast for breakfast. And of course it was made famous by Paddington bear! And even more so when Paddington had tea with Queen Elizabeth.

Yap Ah Loy & Pioneers of KL Museum

 FreeMalaysiaToday, FMT, 6 Jan 2024 has an interesting article, "A tribute to the pioneers who helped build Kuala Lumpur". It is about the new Pioneers of KL Museum in the Sin Sze Si Ya Temple in Kuala Lumpur. The museum display posters, paintings and literature detailing the roles these pioneers played in the development of KL.

One of the most famous names in KL's history is Yap Ah Loy. He became Kapitan during the Selangor Civil War of 1866-1873 and under him KL grew and developed. See my blog "Yap Ah Loy in Kwong Tong cemetery" .

It was Yap who ordered the building of the Sin Sze Si Ya Temple, KL’s oldest Taoist temple. The temple is located in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee in KL. My 2009 photos -

It is quite a small temple

The museum opened in 2023. See the FMT article for more info and photos, and details about entry.

Thanks to my friend Amy for sending me the article.

The Butterfly Trail, London

I was walking past Centrepoint in London on New Year's day when these coloured lights caught my eye so I went to have a look.  It was The Butterfly Trail.

It is the world’s first mixed reality experience. It is an immersive experience as the wrap around screens are from floor to ceiling, four storey high. Apparently they are the most advanced screens in the world.

"Outernet presents The Butterfly Trail, brought to you by Pixel Artworks. Discover a magical new immersive experience which pushes the boundaries of digital design. Experience The Butterfly Trail at The Now Building".

"The Butterfly Trail guides visitors through the intrepid explorer Professor Peter Pelgrin’s Botanical Workshop, into his Glass House where they can interact and explore the experience using just their smartphone. Using their phone, visitors will be able to release magical AR butterflies and trigger real-time animations. "

Whilst I was there I didn't realise that you can "hold" butterflies using your phone. It was quite crowded and I didn't bother to really find out what was going on.

The introductory screens and looking straight up -

The main screens -

Entry is free. 

See more, including a video, on Outernet. 

Some birds in Malaga city, Spain

The noisiest inhabitants of Malaga have to be the Monk parakeets. They are really loud with their constant screeching. They are not so visible as they fly fast and you just see a flash of their bright green colour. They are also known as Monk parrots, or Quaker parrot, or cotorra argentina. They are not native to Europe, they come from Argentina. The wild ones are probably descendants of escapees brought into the country. 

They are the only parakeets to build nests. They live in ornamental trees such as palms. Now they are becoming a problem in Spain, especially with a long lifespan of 20-30 years. There are a lot along the Costa del Sol coast, much to the annoyance of holidaymakers. The situation is getting so bad that marksmen may soon go out and shoot them. They are already being culled in Madrid. See more on the Monk parakeets.

I have also seen a lot of these parakeets in Barcelona - 

Also in Malaga are are the inevitable pigeons and doves. These include the Eurasian collared dove. 

Another bird seen in huge numbers are the gulls around the harbour. There are thousands. I think they are Yellow-Legged Gulls and also some Lesser Black-backed gulls. It is quite an impressive site to see so many, though I didn't manage to get any really good photos. The Yellow-Legged Gulls have slate grey upper parts with blacker wing tips and bright yellow legs.

A Georgian house in Spitalfields, London

 A Georgian house on Princelet Street in Spitalfields is said to be one of the most photographed buildings in the area. It is No 4 Princelet St and the ground floor exterior looks quite dilapidated from the outside. It is Grade II listed.

The four storey house has been home to a succession of migrant families. The property was completed in 1723 and was originally home to Sir Benjamin Truman, who was attracted by the building’s proximity to his family’s brewery. Other houses were used for Huguenot migrants - the UK’s first refugees - and a Huguenot weaver occupied No 4. Since then the area has been home to Irish linen workers, Eastern European Jews, Jews from the Netherlands, and most recently members of Spitalfields’ large Bangladeshi community - it is adjacent to Brick Lane.

The inside is not normally open to the public. However in Oct 2022 it was open, for an art exhibition, Christo – Early Works. So I went to have a look at the house. 

I had never heard of the artist Christo. He was known for large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks and landscape elements wrapped in fabric. For this exhibition, it’s his smaller scale works that are on display, mostly from the 1960s and 70s, depicting everyday objects veiled in fabric or plastic and bound with rope or twine. I must admit I found them all very strange and didn't bother to pick up a large booklet of the artwork, as I was more interested in the house.

The ground floor front room -

The back room has stairs (closed) to the first floor with a skylight -

I liked the old radiators around the house -

We were allowed to go up to the upper three floors. 

A very small fireplace on the top floor -

Looking over to Christ Church Spitalfields

and the neighbouring buildings, looking down on chimney pots -

Same view from one floor down -

View from the front top floor window, the chimney pots on Princelet Street -

 The exhibition is part of a a new program, Gagosian Open, which will have temporary projects sited  in unusual contexts. 

See more on the Christo exhibition. And from the same page, some info on the house -

And see more on No 4 Princelet Street. 

And my blog on the Truman Brewery.