Hartley Wintney Wassail Is Celebrated In Oxfordshire

HARTLEY WINTNEY, ENGLAND - JANUARY 04: The Hook Eagle Morris Men lead villagers to an orchard to 'Wassail' on January 4, 2019 in Hartley Wintney, England. In this ancient ritual, villagers and Morris Men process to an Orchard, where 'evil spirits' are driven out and good spirits are encouraged by 'Wassailing' or singing to the trees in the hope it will encourage a bountiful apple crop for the following year. In recent years, Morris Men and other English folk-dancing troupes who blacken their faces have been the target of growing criticism, due to the practice's connotations of blackface minstrelsy, a style of entertainment that mocked people of African descent. In 2016, Morris dancers were banned from the Shrewsbury Folk Festival in England's West Midlands over similar complaints, although the dancers deny that their blackface tradition has any racial connotations. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)