Support the Strikes

 

Wednesday 1st February 2023 will see will see up to 500,000 workers taking national strike action across five unions: NEU, UCU, PCS, Aslef and RMT. It is the biggest single day of workers’ action yet in the strike wave that has developed in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, and taken off especially since last summer.

Actually, it is the largest strike since the public sector walkout of 30 November 2011. That day of action, just over 11 years ago, was effectively a public sector general strike, when 2 million workers in 29 unions walked out together to defend their pensions from the Tory-led coalition with the Lib Dems.

Such action and more still will be needed to defeat the cost-of-living squeeze of the bosses and their Tory government, and Sunak’s planned new anti-union laws. But this is a very important step towards what is needed.

Thousands of workers will be taking strike action in defence of pay, terms and conditions, and in defence of safety standards that are under assault by the Tory government. They remain committed to passing on the cost of the pandemic, their failures and their mishandling of the economy onto the shoulders of workers.

These workers include teachers, school and education staff, lecturers, train drivers, civil servants and more.On the same day, the TUC has announced a national day of action in the campaign against the government's latest announcement of their intention to attack workers rights through the criminalisation and undermining of industrial action.The unions have said that "the system cannot function based on the efforts of a fatigued workforce and with constant cuts in rights consolidated in the past."

The government  is currently trying to force through their draconian and undemocratic anti-strike bill which is designed to prevent democratic worker action like this.

The latest vote on the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill has been taking place today January 30, before it proceeds to the House of Lords. Britain’s new  anti-strike laws are expected to be on the statute books by the summer.

The aim is to hobble the unions by limiting workers rights to withdraw their labour. The bill proposes that employers are given powers to force workers to work on strike days, to provide what the government deems an appropriate ‘minimum service level’. The eight sectors where strikes will be restricted in this way are: railways, fire service, ambulances, education, border security, nuclear decommissioning, other health services and other transport services.

The Bill allows for the government minister to unilaterally determine the ‘minimum service level’ without any requirement of trade union and employer involvement. Employers are only required to consult unions as to the service levels required, and then only within a framework determined by the government. As a result, there is no obligation on employers to negotiate any agreement with unions about minimum service levels in advance of any strike.

The bill will also  allow employers to sack workers who fail to work on a strike day when instructed to work and it allows employers to sue the unions if they are not considered to have taken ‘reasonable’ action to ensure their members work on strike days when required by their employer to do so.

Rishi Sunak has falsely claimed this proposed legislation on minimum service levels is authorised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) – the UN’s agency for workers’ rights, but that is not true, as confirmed by the ILO’s Director General. For a briefing on how the bill breaches ILO conventions see the response to Sunak’s claim published here by the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom.

Union action appears to be strengthening public opinion in support of strikers. An average of two to one the public supports specific actions by teachers, railway workers and civil servants.

Support for nurses, ambulance staff firefighters and teachers ranges from half to two-thirds of the public.

Despite a co-ordinated media campaign against rail workers, over 40 per cent back the RMT strike. Bus workers and teachers get even better support, while even three in 10 back driving examiners.

Every picket line attracts substantial crowds, not of the legally sanctioned half a dozen official pickets, but crowds of supporters from other trade unions and the public.

Neither the government, the police nor any employer thinks it politically expedient to limit pickets. The February 1 day of action is a timely and necessary escalation of solidarity actions, and with the NEU now on strike, offers the possibility of even bigger mass demonstrations.

The TUC, predictably enough, has suggested that the government’s proposed laws be fought in parliament and the courts.

Our Government has no concept of right and wrong.They are the same old nasty party. And as the ongoing tax and corruption scandals illustrate so starkly, it is a government of the rich, for the rich — it is more interested in defending the profits and privileges of the millionaires than defending the jobs and livelihoods of millions.

As we've seen over the pandemic, workers are on the front line of our inequality crisis: from health and housing to climate and the cost of living. The consequences are fracturing societies, with workers facing a wave of repression, which has left people; with no choice but to take action.

If you believe in the triumph of solidarity, human rights, equality.support the strikes Their fight is our fight.Their win will be our win.Solidarity with all those taking action for decent pay and to defend public services, terms and conditions, or campaigning to defend the right to strike

Victory to the workers.  Let's unite and get rid of the Tory psychopaths.We are stronger together!

Holocaust Memorial Day 2023: "Ordinary People"

 27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day, marking the anniversary of the liberation  of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz Birkenau,the largest Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. where 1.6 million men, women children were killed in the holocaust The day aims to remind people of the crimes and loss of life and encourage remembrance in a world scarred by genocide  and prevent it ever being forgotten

 

“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” 

 

These are the words of Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He, along with 1.3 million other Jews, was held prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, and he was also one of only 200,000 (approx) Jews who survived it.

Elie went on to write a number of books about his own personal story and that of the Holocaust (also known as 'the Shoah’ in Hebrew) in general, and his works — along with the likes of Primo Levi (author of If This Is A Man) and Anne Frank, whose diary is famous across the world — are some of the most defining stories of that era. They are books I would implore everyone to read, especially as a 2021 study found that over half of Britons did not know that six million Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust, and less than a quarter thought that two million or fewer were killed.

And though it is easy to leave history in the past, events like The Holocaust must be remembered — they must be remembered out of respect for those who lost their lives, for those who overcame the most severe form of persecution and went on to become productive members of the communities in which they settled and for those who are yet to even step foot on this planet. We must, as Elie Wiesel says, “bear witness” to these events, and pass their stories and their lessons onto the next generation, so that we can avoid such horrors happening again.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Holocaust was the greatest crime of the 20th century because of the sheer scale of the premeditated and industrialized murder of six million Jews alongside hundreds of thousands of others were targeted by Hitler's regime - including trade unionists, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transpeople, (LGBT) gypsies, disabled people and the mentally ill, and others attacked for their race or simply being different. 

Survivors recount horrific examples of ethnic cleansing, torture, cruelty and savagery, often corroborated by the Nazi hierarchy’s meticulous recording of the whole truly awful scenario.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a stark reminder of where hate and antisemitism can lead if not countered. Worryingly, this year’s commemoration efforts  will take place against a backdrop of rising antisemitism. racism and Holocaust distortion all over the world.

This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is Ordinary People. Ordinary People were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary People were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses - and Ordinary People were victims.The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2023, set by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) highlights the humanity of the Holocaust victims and survivors, who had their home and sense of belonging ripped from them by the perpetrators of the Holocaust. 

Let's not forget that the Holocaust  could never have taken place without the willing participation of many millions of ‘ordinary people’. In the years leading up to the Holocaust, Nazi policies and propaganda deliberately encouraged divisions within German society – urging ‘Aryan’ Germans to keep themselves separate from their Jewish neighbours. The Holocaust, Nazi Persecution of other groups and each subsequent genocide, was enabled by ordinary citizens not standing with their targeted neighbours.
In Germany, many individuals who were not ardent Nazis nonetheless participated in varying degrees in the persecution and murder of Jews, the Roma, the disabled, homosexuals and political prisoners.
There is no better example than the ordinary men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101. Five hundred policemen, most from Hamburg, most in their 30s and 40s - too old for conscription into the army.
Men who, before the war, had been professional policemen, as well as businessmen, dockworkers, truck drivers, construction workers, machine operators, waiters, pharmacists, and teachers. Only a minority were members of the Nazi Party and only a few belonged to the SS.
During their stay in Poland, these ordinary men participated in the shootings, or the transport to the Treblinka gas chambers, of at least 83,000 Jews.

Ordinary people were witnesses; many cheered on the active participants in persecution and violence.
Sadly, most, ordinary people remained silent.

It may be another day in our calendar but we  must commit every day to create a better future so that one day, all people are free from oppression and persecution. Increasing levels of denial, division and misinformation in today’s world means we must remain ever vigilant against hatred and identity-based hostility. 

The utterly unprecedented times through which we are living currently are showing thankfully the very best of which humanity is capable but also - in some of the abuse and conspiracy theories being spread on social media - the much darker side of our world as well.

We must remember that genocidal regimes throughout history that have deliberately fractured societies by marginalising certain groups, and how these tactics can be challenged by individuals standing together with their neighbours, and speaking out against oppression and all forms of racism and discrimination. The Holocaust is not just a Jewish tragedy, but it is a lesson to all of us, of all faiths in all times and a continuing reminder to stand with “others” when their rights and freedoms face attack.

Let 's not forget  that the Holocaust did not appear out of thin air, it was built on hatred for "the other," politically weaponized by those seeking ever more power. As politicians today say' never again 'some are walking down that same path. Today there are still those that are stoking up increasing division in communities across the UK and the world. We must oppose all attempts to divide us along the lines of race, religion or ethnicity.

In recent years, Muslims. Roma and refugees have all faced fascist hate,and communities are victimised by the far right. As openly nazis appallingly revel in the crimes of the Holocaust, now more than ever, we need to stand together with others in our communities in order to stop division and the spread of identity-based hostility in our society.

Shockingly Michael Gove has defended his Cabinet colleague Suella Braverman over her interaction with a Holocaust survivor in which she refused to apologise for describing migrants crossing the Channel as an “invasion”.

When asked at a Holocaust Memorial Day event about the encounter, the Levelling Up Secretary said he had not seen the full exchange, which was caught on video, but was a “big admirer” of Ms Braverman’s policies.

Survivor Joan Salter, 83, was seen in a four-minute clip confronting Ms Braverman and likening her language on migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to that used by the Nazis.

Somehow human beings around the world are still capable of so much hate, but we should work together to prevent this. Remember those who have resisted, shown bravery and courage and question those that use hostile language which only serves to sow division and harm.

Let us also today  think about those people who are also facing genocide today; The Uighur Muslims in China, The Rohingya in Myanmar and the Palestinian people .

We should never forget where hatred and bigotry can lead. There can never be anytime for passivity, and we must  stand strong against the dark forces  of intolerance, bigotry, racism and division and all that create them.When we remember the Holocaust, the words  “never again” must mean exactly that.

On Holocaust Memorial Day, Here is a list of some other  places  and people that the world sometimes forgets.

Cambodia,

Darfur,

Siebrenica,

Karabakh, 

Liberia,

Sudan,

Holodonor,

Armenia, 
                                 
the ethnic cleansing of indigeneous Palestinians,

The Indigeneous Peoples of  America,

Checknya,

Congo,

India

and the genocide of slavery

and on and on and on.

Sadly  there will always be individuals, organisations and regimes who want to exploit differences for their own ends and we must have the courage to speak out  against hatred and intolerance where we see this happening. In a world which is increasingly fractured, where we have some leaders that are more interested in promoting division than harmony, it is vital we remember that there is far more that unites than divides the human race, to prevent a repeat of the horrors of the past, lets strive to work for equality , peace and justice for the whole of mankind. Be the light in the darkness.

Amser Cariadon / Lovers Time ( A Poem for Dydd Santes Dwynwen / St Dwynwens Day; The Welsh Patron Saint Of Lovers)

Sunflowers reach

Up to the skies, 

Lanterns illuminate

So do our smiles.,

Hearts full of kindness 

Gentle and radiant,

Poetical pulses

Beating their truth,

Beyond scales of injustice 

Where energy is sapped,

In the midst of abandonment

Love carrying us forward,

Destroying walls of separation 

Dispatching her strength,

Making the day peaceful

Bringing comfort and joy,

Against hatred and bigotry

Healing moments of instancy,

Allowing passion to keep flowing 

Easing pain from deep within, 

Passing scorn and bitterness 

Carrying tunes melodious,  

Embracing rich diversity

Shining ever so brightly,

Flowing against iniquity

Delivered meticulously.

Sajid Javid calls for patients to pay for GP and A&E visits

 

 

Former health-secretary Sajid Javid has weighed in on NHS reform suggesting we need to pay £20 for a GP appointment and £66 to go to A&E as a way to solve the NHS funding crisis.Writing in an op-ed for The Times,he said "extending the contributory principle" should be part of radical reforms to combat growing waiting times.

He said it’s the only way we can preserve the principles of the NHS, although I and many others thought it was built on it being free at the point of delivery, and has remained throughout, out of the belief that healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth,with health and care as priorities – not profit.

These ideals remain one of the NHS’s core principles. that we must all support and fight for.The NHS belongs to all of us. It is funded by our taxes and National Insurance contributions. We own it. It does not belong to the Tories and it is not theirs to sell.These proposed charges are the inevitable Tory solution to their own self made NHS Crisis, and NHS waiting lists, make the NHS too expensive for poor and disabled people to use with a tax on illness. and is a direct attack on the principles of the NHS that doesn't solve it's problems and discriminates against ordinary working families.

Sajid Javid's idiotic recommendation  which have been greeted with scorn and disdain are nothing to do with the fact he's a consultant for Morgan Health,by any chance? A private health company who want to get a piece of the NHS when the Tories sell off the NHS bit by bit?

His call comes months after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was forced to retract plans to introduce a £10 fine to patients who missed GP appointments. The measure was widely criticised by health professionals but indicative of further conversations of reform to come.

Javid - who announced he won’t be standing as a Conservative MP in the next general election - added that “too often the appreciation for the NHS has become a religious fervour and a barrier to reform”.

But the honest reality is Javid and his ilk. a bunch of liars, self serving, greed driven clueless chancers. have put the NHS on life support, but they are hoping the patient doesn't survive.The Tory government has run the NHS into the ground and Javid's  calls for ‘reform’ are simply an excuse to privatise it. Maybe try funding it properly instead and tax people more fairly. I’ve no doubt it’s been a plan for a while, but it will be the final nail in the Tory coffin if they succeed and will never be forgiven.

Quite aptly, the very word "Tory" is derived from the Irish word "tóraidhe", meaning robber. They are quite simply rotten to the core.The Tory's are trying to destroy our beloved  health service, but we cannot allow them to achieve their aims, working with health workers and the unions we must fight together tooth and nail to stop this from happening. A third strike in the ongoing NHS pay dispute takes place on Monday 23 January. Support the strikers fight for a real pay rise. Reverse privatisation and outsourcing! Kick out the profiteers and the Tory robbers for good..

Holocaust survivor confronted Suella Braverman to say: your hateful language has consequences

The Home Office has been accused of bullying behaviour towards a charity that works with torture survivors, after seeking to remove a video of a courageous Holocaust survivor confronting the Home Secretary over her language towards refugees.

Video footage, that you can see  above shared by the charity Freedom from Torture, emerged over the weekend of Suella Braverman being questioned by Joan Salter, 83, during a constituency meeting in Fareham on Friday.

Ms Salter, who was made an MBE for her work on Holocaust education, likened Ms Braverman’s despicable language on migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to that used by the Nazis.

Salter said: “I am a child survivor of the Holocaust.

“In 1943, I was forced to flee my birthplace in Belgium and went across war-torn Europe and dangerous seas until I finally was able to come to the UK in 1947.

“When I hear you using words against refugees like ‘swarms’ and an ‘invasion’, I am reminded of the language used to dehumanise and justify the murder of my family and millions of others.

“Why do you find the need to use that kind of language?”

In the video, Braverman thanked Ms Salter for her question, and said she "shared a huge amount of concern and sympathy" over the "challenge" of illegal immigration, adding that her own parents were not born in Britain.

She added: "There is a huge problem that we have right now when it comes to illegal migration, the scale of which we have not known before.

"I won't apologise for the language that I have used to demonstrate the scale of the problem."

Ms Braverman's answer was greeted with applause from the audience but has since been condemned by many others.

Freedom From Torture has also said that the Home Office has taken the unusual step of issuing a public statement about the incident on social media, confirming it had asked the human rights charity  to remove the video. In a statement posted on Twitter on Saturday, the Home Office said: “The Home Secretary attended an event last night and took questions, including on immigration policy.

“Footage of a conversation with a Holocaust survivor is circulating online. The video has been heavily edited and doesn’t reflect the full exchange.”

It went on to add: “Since the footage misrepresents the interaction about a sensitive area of policy, we have asked the organisation who posted the video to take it down.”

Freedom From Torture chief executive Sonya Sceats said the charity will not remove the short clip from social media, and pointed out that a video of the full exchange is available on its website.https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/holocaust-survivor-confronted-suella-braverman-to-say-your-hateful-language-has-consequences

Sceats said: “Suella Braverman refused to apologise for offensive and dehumanising language when challenged by a Holocaust survivor at a party meeting.

“Not only that, but the Home Office has demanded we remove the footage.

“As an organisation providing therapy to torture survivors who feel targeted by her language and who know first-hand where such dehumanising language can lead, we will not do so.”

The reaction to  Joan calling out Suella Braverman’s anti-refugee rhetoric face-to-face has been huge.   The news is full of reports of Suella Braverman’s cruelty, and 5 million people have now heard Joan’s story on social media. 

Suella Braverman response to Ms Salter isn't all that surprising,less than a week into her tenure as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Ms Braverman referred to her job as being "about stopping the invasion on our southern coast". including saying it was her ' dream'  to be able to deport migrants to Rwanda using a controversial asylum agreement.People like Suella like to point to their parents or grandparents immigration status, as if that excuses their deplorable attitudes; it doesn't, and if anything makes those attitudes appear even worse.Her hardline stance on immigration alongside her inflammatory comments about migration has also seen her branded as ' Enoch Btaverman' in the way she is stoking racism.  She is totally unfit for office and should never have been appointed in the first  place, the politics she represents are cruel. inhumane, extreme and reactionary. 

The attempt by the Home Office to persuade Freedom from Torture to take down the video is simply outrageous, because it seems like politicisation of the civil service which is stepping in an attempt to salvage Suella Braverman's reputation.

The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Monday: “You’ll know the UK’s record on providing a safe haven to tens of thousands of people, whether it’s people from Afghanistan or other countries and we continue to be proud of that record.”

Asked twice if the PM agreed with Braverman’s language, the spokesperson said: “The Home Office put out a statement on this. I don’t have anything to add to that.”

Thank you Joan Salter,for speaking truth to power. and rereminding us that language is so important. We must  continue to stand against hate speech and the dehumanising of people, any people, and whoever mutters it.

Rain

We must speak of love

It's invincible force.

That heals every day

In music and song.

Allows dreams to persist

Fosters no harm .

Can unite rich and poor

Beyond misunderstanding.

A well remembered tune

Between hours of darkness.

In the absence of Gods

Releases an embracing beat.

Her flowers always revealing

Never dulled or melted like ice.

Kiss a Ginger Day!

                                     Sandro Botticelli - Birth of Venus

Apparently it's Kiss a Ginger Day today which was established in 2009 by Derek Forgie as part of a Facebook group, intended to offset the similar-sounding, but significantly more violent, ‘Kick a Ginger’ day that that takes place in November. that  was allegedly inspired by a 2005 episode of South Park called ‘Ginger Kids’, which ironically was intended to satirise racially motivated discrimination, but which some viewers misunderstood, willfully or ignorantly, the creators’ intent. After the events of this aggressive event, gingers everywhere were tormented and assaulted in schools all over the world.

Although gingerism may be presented as just “banter”, rights campaigners  have argued that such so-called jokes can “strip red-haired children “of their positive self-identity and confidence.

In recent years, there have been reports of increasing calls to police complaining of anti-ginger abuse and bullying that is particularly acute in the UK and is one of the last socially accepted forms of prejudice against people for a trait they were born with. It’s certainly  not “harmless banter” Several children have committed or attempted suicide in recent years.

Redheads remain some of the rarest expressions of genetics in the world, making up less than 2% of the population worldwide, redheads are a minority group. Prejudiced against for a genetic characteristic, it is easy to make the link with racism, as indeed the creators of ‘South Park’ did. 

Although the South Park episode incited alarming displays of abusive treatment towards red-haired children in the UK and the US, the discriminatory treatment of redheads has a long history. 

The Ancient Greeks and Romans perceived red-haired Celts, Gauls, and Germans to be uncivilised warmongers, while Ancient philosopher Aristotle associated fox-coloured locks with wickedness. These unflattering depictions continued into the Middle Ages, where they became intertwined with anti-semitic rhetoric. 

Despite the illogic connotation, as relatively few Jewish people possessed the characteristic, red hair was deemed symbolic of the Jewish population in Europe. Consequently, red hair became associated with the allegory of the devil, perpetuating anti-Jewish sentiment by suggesting that red-haired Jews were satanic aides. 

Reiterated by later Shakespearean and Dickensian literary depictions of avaricious, outcast Jews, red hair was unquestionably representative of otherness in Western culture. Centuries of distrust and discrimination unsurprisingly took root, and weaved their way into contemporary society, resulting in, for many ‘ginger kids’, the expectation of being bullied.  

There is also a common but incorrect stereotype across the UK that red hair originates from Ireland. In the 1850s poverty led to thousands of Irish people migrating across the Irish Sea. Being low class migrants of a different religion- Catholicism- which the British Protestant establishment had fought wars against, they were viewed by many as a disloyal social burden. Could  this historical anti-Irishness also play an unconscious role in the abuse faced by redheads?

Redheads have also been  feared because they are believed in folklore to be the devil's children and have red hair because they were conceived during their mother's menstruation.A welsh proverb says "os bydd goch, fe fydd gythreulig" or "if he's redhaired then he is of the devil". Yesterday's superstition has become today's teasing.

Unlike abuse based on religion, race, gender or sexuality, verbal abuse of red hair is not a hate crime. Given the suicides of bullied redhead children, there have been calls from the likes of the UK Anti-Bullying Alliance to make it so.https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/

While in some parts of the world this color hair is disparaged, and the origin of such phrases as “like a red-headed stepchild”, the rest of the world has an undying love affair with them. Red hair dye remains one of the most popular hair care products, and it comes in a wide array of colors, including some never found in nature.

With fiery red hair, pale skin, and eyes of blue or green. they were also once held as being holy as they were believed to have stolen the very fire of the Gods and imbued their crimson locks with it.These powerful images should be embraced; and though kiss a Ginger day has noble sentiments, highlighting the  prejudice they face, instead  of  offering kisses to them alone, lets focus on coming together and take a stand against bigotry and discrimination to any part of the human race who are unnecessarily targeted  for being who they are and continue to build  a world of tolerance and respect. We cannot allow discrimination to persist in any shape or form if we hope to progress as a species.

Splitting at the seams

The roads ahead very unclear

Far from the delight of happiness

Riven with fear and uncertainty

As Doctors in necessary waking call 

Condemn delusional billionaire PM

Who has belligerently tossed aside

The emergency and crisis in the NHS

With absence of morality, utter crassness

Policies continue to privatise and dismantle

A jewel among this nations beating heart

Nye Bevan's lovechild.that delivered security

A pulse of reason, comfort and hope

A perfect symbol of what binds us

Daily serving and protecting

Essential to our wellbeing

Releasing comfort and good will

Now pushed to breaking point

Deliberately starved and underfunded

By wilful cruel government

Denying the oxygen to sustain it

Carved into pieces given to profiteers

Putting so many lives at risk

Forcing unsung heroes to go on strike

For decent pay. our well being too

They are the forces that keep us stronger

The muscles of strength when we are weak

We clapped for them. gave our thanks

They served us well, now let's join their fight

Not too late for NHS to be saved from paralysis

This my simple message and prognosis 

Free for all. from the cradle to the grave

Resist the ruination and the decimation

Fuck all the Tories, and all their enablers.

Hunting the Wren

The Wren  is considered a "most sacred bird" and called the 'King of the Birds'  and Drui-en or Druid bird in Irish Gaelic. In Welsh the word Dryw means both druid and wren In Celtic lore she symbolised the year that was past. She is known to sing throughout winter, and is thus a symbol of hope and rebirth. It was said that capturing the bird alive would herald in a new and prosperous year. As the king of the birds the wren occupied a prominent position in the druidic pagan religion. Sailors and fishermen believed that those who possessed a wren feather would never be shipwrecked.

A Manx folk-tale recounts how it is the wren became king. All of the birds had gathered together to decide, once and for all, who would be first among them.  In turn, each bird came forward to state what gifts they had which set them above all of the rest.  Although the wren had proven her cleverness to the approval of the gathering, the eagle suggested that the bird who could fly the highest should be the one to rule over them all. The gathered birds agreed, and the eagle flew up as high as he could, far surpassing all of the rest. He called out to the assembly, “’I am King of the Birds, King of the Birds!” – but he didn’t realize that the wren had hidden herself among his feathers, and as he made his proclamation, she jumped up to the top of his head and cried out, “’Not so, not so, I’m above him, I’m above him!” And thus, through her cleverness, the wren became king of the birds.

Another story tells us that St Stephen was hiding in a bush from his enemies, only for his hiding to be revealed by the chattering of a wren. Another maintains that in the 700s during the Viking troubles, when Irish warriors crept up on the Danes to attack, a little wren beat out a warning by picking crumbs from the drum held by a sleeping Viking. And lastly, there was a fairy woman called Cliona was in the habit of luring local men to a watery grave. She had the power to turn herself into, you’ve guessed it, a wren.

The feast of St. Stephen, who was the first Christian martyr, is celebrated on December 26th. Connecting the Wren Boys ritual (Lá an Dreoilín) as the day when the traitor wren by simply chirping away betrayed St. Stephen is a good example of how Ireland’s pagan traditions were merged with Christianity.

The Wren.and what it symbolised therefore became a target by Christian believers as part of their purge of 'pagan' traditions. During Yule, the bird was hunted and killed in it's thousands until finally being banned in 1830. The wren’s connection with royalty is important when considering some of the theories surrounding the purpose of the Wren Hunt. In his classic work, The Golden Bough, Frazer talks about the hunting of the wren along with several examples of similar ritual behavior from other cultures around the world. He writes:

The worshipful animal is killed with special solemnity once a year; and before or immediately after death he is promenaded from door to door, that each of his worshipers may receive a portion of the divine virtues that are supposed to emanate from the dead or dying god. Religious processings of this sort must have had a great place in the ritual of European peoples in prehistoric times, if we may judge from the numerous traces of them which have survived in folk custom.

It may be that the wren stood as proxy for an ancient tradition where the annual king would be sacrificed at year’s end to ensure the abundance of the crops and animals in the year to come.

In Wales, the custom of ‘Hunting the Wren’ usually took place between the 6th and 12th of January. It all sounded  rather cruel, where basically the tiny bird is captured, killed and tied to a pole. Local musicians and dancers would then dress in garish disguises and go house to house collecting money, food and drink for a party. Woe betide the house that did not donate to the cause – the wren could be buried outside their door which would bring 12 months of bad luck!

In Pembrokeshire, it was called ‘Twelfth-tide’ and the wren's cage was in the form of a wooden cage adorned with ribbons.

What is interesting about the wren hunt is that it is an example of a ritual which countermands the usual order of things. Wrens, if not considered a sacred bird, from medieval times onward were at the very least an honored and protected species. It was considered bad luck to harm a wren or disturb its nest, and this notion is attested to in folk sayings such as:

Y neb a dorro nyth y dryw

Ni chaiff iechayd yn ei fyw

Whoever robs the wren’s nest shall

Never have wealth in his life

This protected status may further bolster the idea of the wren as a sacrifice, and the exchange of its life during the dark time of the year was a powerful offering indeed to whatever forces decided how lucky or abundant the new year would be. In  these colder nights. the Wren. king of birds gets bolder more visible as  the undergrowth where it likes to forage loses it's foliage Listen out for it's  melodic song. and celebrate it's beauty.Wherever they may be, allow them to spread cheer and hope.

 

"He who shall hurt the little wren

  Shall never be belov'd by men." - William Blake Auguries of Innocence

The ancient tradition of Wassailing

 

The ancient tradition of wassailing is a custom that has its roots in the eighth century and the celebrations generally take place on the Twelfth Night, 5th January, however the more traditional still insist in celebrating it on ‘Old Twelvey’, or the 17th January, the correct date; that is before the introduction of the Gregorian calender messed things up in 1752.

Wassailing harks back to pre-Christian times when rural communities had no knowledge of weather systems, climate patterns or fruit biennialism. Instead, their approach to ensuring a bountiful harvest in the forthcoming autumn was to appeal to the apple gods and goddesses, ward evil spirits from the orchards and attract benevolent insects and birds to the trees.

There are two distinct variations of wassailing. One involves groups of merrymakers going from one house to another, wassail bowl in hand, singing traditional songs and generally spreading fun and good wishes to their neightbors. The other form of wassailing is generally practiced in the countryside, particularly in fruit growing regions, where it is the trees that are blessed.

The celebrations vary from region to region, but generally involves the assembled group of revellers, comprising the farmers, farm workers and general villagers, in a noisy procession descending on orchards to sing to the trees. This was to 'wake them up' so they would bear well in the coming year.There is also an English folklore spirit called the Apple Tree Man who is honored during the Wassailing. The Apple Tree Man is the name for the oldest tree in the orchard and it is believed that the fertility of the orchard as a whole derives from this tree spirit. Extra attention is given to the eldest tree in the orchard and people may honor the spirit by pouring cider into the roots. Also the wassail queen, king or local benefactor places a slice of toast soaked in cider in the fork of a branch of the tree to attract good spirits.

It’s not just good spirits that are the focus of wassailers. As well as inviting good spirits in, bad spirits must be driven out. People drive the evil spirits out by banging pots and pans, or possibly morris dancing. After removing evil spirits from the tree, the tree is given a drink of mulled cider. If the tree isn’t too thirsty, then the remaining cider is drunk by the wassailers. If the cider is good enough, more dancing happens. As part of this celebration, they also poured wine and cider on the ground to encourage fertility in the crops.

As with all modern folklore traditions we may never know their true origins, but I think it’s pretty clear that this practice of wassailing the orchards taps into ancient Pagan practices and beliefs.

In England, some of traditional secular wassailing songs were performed back as early as the days of King Henry VIII (1491-1547).

The word “wassail” comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase “waes hael”, which means “good health” Not by chance, groups would go out wassailing on cold evenings, and when they approached a door would be offered a mug of warm cider or ale.Traditionally after someone would say Wassail, the common response is “Drinc hæl” which means “drink and be healthy.”

Originally, the wassail was in fact a drink made of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and sugar, and it was served from huge bowls, often made of silver or pewter. Wassailing was traditionally done on New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Night, but some rich people drank Wassail on all the 12 days of Christmas.

 Wassail first appears in English literature in the Pagan poem Beowulf in the lines:
 

The rider sleepeth,
the hero, far-hidden; no harp resounds,
in the courts no wassail, as once was heard.

The word Wassail also makes an appearance as a toast that occurred right before the Saxon battle of Hastings began in 1066 CE. An Anglo-Norman poet wrote that in the last feast before the battle he heard a cry of:
 

Rejoice and wassail
Pass the bottle and drink healthy
Drink backwards and drink to me
Drink half and drink empty.

But it goes deeper than this because Wassiling is not just a phrase, greeting, or a toast - it’s lots of different things. While the word Wassail can refer to the act of toasting, it can also represent the beverage that was drunk during the toast. 

Today, Wassail is a popular holiday beverage and there are many different recipes for this drink. One of the oldest versions of Wassail is called Renwein, which is a spiced wine that resembled the ancient Roman drink called hypocras. The drink survived into the middle ages and became a popular wassailing drink among the wealthy.

Another version of the Wassail drink, called “Lambs Wool” is mentioned by none other than Shakespere himself during his play A Midsummer Night's Dream. This version of Wassil involved a dark beer that was whipped to create a frothy texture and then crab apples were floated in the drink. Shakespeare describes this version of Wassail in the lines:
 

Sometimes lurk I in the gossip's bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And down her withered dewlap pours the ale.

One legend about how Wassailing was created, says that a beautiful Saxon maiden named Rowena presented Prince Vortigen with a bowl of wine while toasting him with the words “waes hael”.

In any case, over the centuries, a great deal of ceremony developed around the custom of drinking wassail.

Traditionally Wassail was drunk in a bowl not a glass, the bowl was carried into a room with a great fanfare, a traditional carol about the drink was sung, and finally, the steaming hot beverage was served.and often people would dip their bread in the bowl or float toasted bread on top of the drink - this is where the word “toast” as a drinking term comes from. Beyond just being a drink and phrase, wassail is also a verb and “to go wassailing” is a tradition that likely has some fascinating Pagan origins, especially in the western region of England.

One of the most popular Wassailing Carols went like this:

A Wassail Bowl
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wassailing,
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.

 By the Middle Ages, the practice of sharing a giant bowl of wassail—that is, the practice of wassailing—evolved from a holiday celebration to a form of boozy begging. “At Christmastide, the poor expected privileges denied them at other times, including the right to enter the homes of the wealthy, who feasted them from the best of their provisions,” Robert Doares, an instructor at Colonial Williamsburg, explained. The poor would either ask to sip from their rich neighbor’s wassailing bowl or would bring their own bowl, asking for it to be filled. According to Doares, “At these gatherings, the bands of roving wassailers often performed songs for the master while drinking his beer, toasting him, his family, his livestock, wishing continued health and wealth.” The original  of Here We Come a-Wassailing are quite upfront about what’s going on:

 We are not daily beggars That beg from door to door But we are neighbours’ children Whom you have seen before.

Not all rich folk were happy to see wassailers at their doorstep. One 17th century polymath, John Selden, complained about

 "Wenches … by their Wassels at New-years-tide ... present you with a Cup, and you must drink of the slabby stuff; but the meaning is, you must give them Moneys.”

Misers like Selden may have had a point: Since alcohol was involved, wassailers often got too rowdy.  

 

“Drunken bands of men and boys would take to the streets at night, noise-making, shooting rifles, making ‘rough music,’ and even destroying property as they went among the wealthy urban homes,”  

 

wrote Hannah Harvester, formerly the staff folklorist at Traditional Arts in Upstate New York.

 

Then came the efforts to tame Christmas. In 17th century England, the Puritans looked down upon the revelry and merry-making associated with Christmas. They felt Christmas should be a time for solemn contemplation and nowhere did God call upon the people to celebrate the birth of Christ with extravagant feasting, drinking, and singing. To them, this behavior was not just inappropriate, it was sinful.

Led by Oliver Cromwell, in 1644 and 1647, Parliament effectively banned Christmas, a period lasting for about 20 years. During this time, people continued to celebrate, singing and feasting secretly. It was not until the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, that the laws became null and people were allowed again to openly celebrate.

By the 19th century, wassailing would mellow. Beginning in the 1830s, music publishers started releasing the first commercial Christmas carols, uncorking classics such as God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and The First Noel. Among them were dozens of wassailing songs, including the circa 1850 Here We Come a-Wassailing and dozens of others that are now, sadly, forgotten. As the custom of caroling became the dominant door-to-door pastime, alcohol-fueled begging dwindled.

The drunken band of rabble-rousers banging on doors begging for figgy pudding was now simply spreading good cheer door-to-door in the village while singing Christmas carols with a punch bowl of sweetened, spiced ale. but Caroling is an apt reminder that the Christmas traditions of modern times have roots that reach back centuries into the past. 

Wassail evolved from a hot punch-like beverage of mulled wine spiced with nutmeg and raisins to keep the winter chill at bay for loitering merrymakers to its modern Christmas cousin, the cider concoction containing wine, bobbed apples, and sliced oranges and in some households, to an even richer, cream-based punch containing sherry, crusts of bread or sweet cakes, and even eggs. As the punch matured, mixtures of madeira, sherry, or brandy began to appear alongside the the traditional ale or cider, becoming a modern, more complex split based punch. When settlers began arriving in America, “wassailing” had become nothing more than a celebratory gathering at home with friends during Christmas with a cider-based punch spiked with rum. An ocean now separated the old and new.

The folk singer Phil Tanner recorded Gower Wassail for a 78rpm record in November 1936 in London (matrix CA16053-1; Columbia FB1569). Tanner lived on the Gower Peninsular in South Wales where some of the people had originally come from Somerset in England. Many very old songs survived there because of the isolation of the community, similar in a way to the Appalachian music.

The Watersons with Mike Waterson in lead sang this song as Wassail Song on their 1965 LP Frost and Fire.A.L. Lloyd noted in the Watersons's original album:

 

We end as we begin, with a wassail song, sung from house to house at mid-winter, for luck. The wassailers, perhaps five or six of them, carried a wooden bowl decorated with holly and ivy. in which to collect money or bread and cheese or beer, in return for the good luck wishes conveyed by their song. Sometimes they carried a be-ribboned elder bough as an emblem of their standing as luck-bringers. Many wassail songs indicate that in the past the reception of the luck-visitors was a ceremonious affair, with the person who gave them entry dressed in her best, wearing a silver pin or carrying a golden mace. The version here, led by Michael Waterson, is one familiar in the West country and extending into the Gower Peninsula of Wales. It was one of the favourite tunes of the fine old Gower singer, Phil Tanner.

 

Wassailing may not be as popular as it  once was nevertheless in some parts of England, such as Somerset and Sussex where apples are grown especially for cider, Wassailing still today takes place on Twelfth Night or sometimes New Year’s Eve or even Christmas Eve. People go into apple orchards and then sing songs, make loud noises and dance around to scare of any evil spirits and also to wake up the trees so they will give a good crop.

It’s also a common practice to place toast which has been soaked in beer into the bows of the trees to feed and thank the trees for giving apples.

In parts of South Wales in the United Kingdom, there is the tradition of the “Mari Lwyd” wassailing horse, but this is another story https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-tradition-of-mari-llwyd-y-fari-lwyd.html. Other ancient wassailing traditions are also practiced each year in London where the Bankside Mummers and the Holly Man will ‘bring in the green’ and waes hael the people and the River Thames.

Wassail remains an important  way to connect with the past and bring it to life. It’s a way to celebrate community, culture, and your connection to nature. And for Pagans it has even more importance because it helps us tap into  rich ancient traditions and beliefs. When you say “Wassail” you’re honoring pagan-inspired literary works such as Beowulf. You’re celebrating the apple harvest and the ancient spirits that live in the orchards. And you’re honoring a tradition  that goes all the way back to the Roman solstice celebration known as Saturnalia. It certainly brings me a warm feeling.

Wassail mostly ia a salutatory celebration of a long year as you gather with those you cherish and raise a glass of good cheer to toast to a healthy, happy new year and enduring friendships. For wassail is, first and foremost, a salute.So,in light of thar. “Wassail! Drink hail!”

 

 The Watersons - Wassail Song