The Green Man and the Boat Wassail

Wassail! for the Green Man has cometh to Bankside!

Apparently this old pagan wassail celebration is "bouncing back" according to The Independent.

There was certainly a decent crowd waiting by the Thames for the Green Man to arrive courtesy of the Trinity rowers. It was rather cold and so there was much rejoicing when they were finally spotted:

The junior town crier seemed a bit unsure about all this. I was standing on the wall with a long drop to the swirling Thames to my right so I was a bit unsure too.

Then we Wassailed the departing Thames Cutter Trinity Tide as follows:

The Boat Wassail

Blowe wind boat bear well

Ride well on the tide

Every beam and every sail

Bear the crew bravely home

Each sailing day!

I hope they heard us as they battled traffic on the busy river, the cold and the tide:

Apparently you can Wassail pretty much anything so at this point I decided to leave and Wassail Waitrose. It was rather cold and I was getting hungry.

Thanks to the Lions Part for all the entertainment in this Twelfth Night (or nearest Sunday) ritual which I also enjoyed last year.