ISBN: 978-1-9160813-0-7
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The Winter Wassail by Cherie Chen
£10
Postage £1.50 within UK, £5.50 everywhere else.
Jade Books Publishing
40 pages
Size: 254 x254 mm
Weight 293 grams
Thickness 0.5 cm
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Also available at Jarrolds, The Book Hive, Bookbugs and Dragon Tale.
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For any book illustration, leaflet/label design, commission for any other art projects, please get in touch.
Tea towel: heavy weight, 100% cotton,
premium quality £5.50.
Delivery charge £2.50
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'The Winter Wassail’ tells the story of two children, Matilda and Finbar, who join with forest creatures to prepare the wassail celebrations, only to discover a poorly young pine tree whose fate threatens the survival of the whole forest. They all help to look after it, pinning their hopes on the Winter Wassail waking Old Magick in time to save the poorly tree and the forest.
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The images are blurred for copyright purpose
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Big thank you to Jarrold Department Store for the Book Signing/ Workshop event on 27.Oct.2018
and all my friends, family and for the warm support at my book event.
It was really wonderful. I enjoyed every moment of it.
HISTORY OF WASSAILING
"The Winter Wassail" is based on the English Medieval tradition of wassailing, with its pagan roots in the ritual of waking the spirits of the trees from their winter sleep to help them grow healthy and strong in the new year.
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Wassailers would sing and dance amongst the trees, making a tremendous racket. They would bang sticks and drums and pots and pans - anything that would make a noise wake the tree spirits and scare off demons. With much merriment they would pass round the wassail bowl, sharing the warm mulled cider, while pouring some onto the roots of the trees. In some traditions, a Wassail Queen hangs toast soaked in cider on the trees as a gift to the tree spirits. Hence the expression - "A toast to their good health!"
And wassail songs were chanted :
... Here's to thee, old apple tree,
That blooms well, bears well.
Hats full, caps full,
Three bushel bags full,
An' all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!