By Cynthia Hochswender
Photos by Joy Gild
The days are dark and long, the nights feel like they’ll last forever, but take heart: Spring is coming. Seed orders are going out. The sun is setting a little later every day And farmers are beginning the mystical rituals that they believe will promote abundance in their crops this year.
Some of these rites are held quietly, late at night, under a full moon.
Not so the Wassail Celebration at Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook, a family-friendly romp held in full daylight that begins mid-afternoon and culminates with a blessing of the orchards and fields as evening approaches and the sun settles lower in the sky.
The Wassail Celebration is led by Dan Pucci, considered one of America’s leading experts on the newly vibrant field of craft cider; and Madeleine Osborn, his neighbor in Red Hook, who describes herself as having a lifelong interest in both paganism and big parties.
The first celebration at Rose Hill was held in January 2022, an impromptu outing attended by about 50 people. By 2023 the crowd had grown threefold; by 2024, the head count was close to 400.
The celebration is held at Rose Hill Farm, established by the Fraleigh family in the early 1800s. It remained in family hands until 2014, when it was purchased by Bruce and Holly Brittain and Chris Belardi.
The new owners tried at first to farm the old-fashioned biodynamic way (aka quietly, late at night, under a full moon). They quickly learned which all-natural methods worked, and which needed support from modern resources. And they vastly expanded the varieties of fruit grown at the farm.
Perhaps the Wassail Celebrations have helped Rose Hill and its crops to blossom. Certainly they have helped spread the fame of this pick-your-own farm that has also become a community gathering place, hosting celebrations of all kinds.
There is plenty of action at Rose Hill during the Wassail revels. Participants make crowns using greens and branches foraged from the nearby woods; adults are invited to make their own torches, wrapping rags around trimmed tree branches.
Throughout the afternoon, children run around the fields, stamp their feet in a frozen stream, fly down a short hill on sleds. There are fire pits, where adults congregate and share bottles of cider crafted on-site at the Rose Hill farm winery/cidery, along with local beer and a range of other New York State craft beverages.
At about 4 pm, Pucci exhorts the crowd to follow him up to the orchard, as he calls, “All Hail!” and the crowd roars back, “Wassail!”
Torches are held aloft and the farm and its soil and trees are blessed, loudly and enthusiastically. Then everyone returns to the tap room, with cheeks as red as apples, for hot food and warming beverages.
The 2025 celebration will be held at Rose Hill Farm on Sunday, January 26. There will be events and workshops in the afternoon leading up to the main event, which begins shortly before sunset.—pickrosehillfarm.com