Cider, toast and tradition

Sibley performing the ceremony of wassail in Midsomer Norton, England. The centuries-old tradition of wassailing is making a comeback in rural England, with rituals and revelry meant to chase away evil spirits and the winter blues. — ©2025 The New York Times Company

A JET of steam hisses into the cold night air as a red-hot poker plunges into a bowl of cider. A garlanded woman spears a piece of toast with a long fork and places it carefully among the branches of a tree.

The torch-lit ceremony reaches its climax with the crack of gunfire echoing beneath the winter sky.