Many years ago I heard a strange fact related that stayed with me as conversational fodder. It may have been Paul Harvey or The Farmer’s Almanac or some similar source but the story teller told of an old New England tradition where, in early spring, couples would run around an apple tree a certain number of times in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction, I forget which, and while doing so slap the tree trunk with switches or perhaps rolled up newspapers. The participants also had to be buck naked while doing so.
What struck me was the specificity of the act. How much experimentation had to be performed over the years to determine the exact number of rotations and strikes to the tree, let alone determining that being naked somehow added to the efficacy of the process. Better still, what did Farmer John tell his neighbor who happened upon him and his female partner practicing this research, and, how did Farmer John convince his neighbors that this was something that the whole village should commence to do together to insure a better apple crop ?
It certainly sounds like apple howling, although the naked bits add a little something extra.
“Better still, what did Farmer John tell his neighbor...”
Farmer John was probably chasing Farmer Bob’s wife around the tree.
“Oh - hey now Bob - put down that musket. We’re just doing the apple dance - you want a good crop next year don’t you!? I know you’re new here, so I’ll explain it to you....”
I believe it is called *Wassailing*
http://projectbritain.com/Xmas/wassail.htm
Not at all sure about the *nekkid* part.:)
http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/Christmas/hist_wassail.cfm
Sounds like the origins of the *pub-crawl* and...
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/wassailing.htm
...cross-dressing and blackface.
http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/wassailing.shtml
LOL! Sounds like these practices have roots - no pun intended - in pre-Christian fertility rites. I am betting the apple howling does, as well.
Nekkid outside in the New England spring. Brrrr!