To honour tradition, Orange Winter Fire Festival participants at Canobolas Dance Hall will bless the fruits of the land with a wassailing.

According to custom, the purpose of wassailing is to awaken the trees to scare away evil spirits and ensure a good harvest of fruit.

While ceremonies varied from village to village, a theme of excessive consumption and general frivolity appears universal.

Event organiser Lisa Lovick said historically there has been a superstition among fruit growers which set the precedent for the old English custom.

“It is to give us good luck for the next harvest,” Ms Lovick said.

On the evening of Saturday, August 4, wassailing dancers will come out of the woods to awaken the apple orchards and cherry trees, as part of the celebrations for the city’s first fire festival.

Ms Lovick said the stand-up dinner will offer plenty of reasons to overindulge, with dishes incorporating red wine, cider, bubbles and local lamb.

“It’s going to be a great celebration of all that makes the region so special,” Ms Lovick said.

Jo Robson catering will create the two-course feast, which will provide the fuel for an evening of dance, drink and bonfires.

To assist attendees in staying true to tradition, Small Acres Cyder and See Saw wines will offer their versions of nectars of the gods – with a glass of Prosecco or wine presented on arrival.

Five-piece band The Honey Drippin’ Mudskippers promise to get skirts swinging and shoes scuffed with their mix of 1920s to 40s blues, swing and jazz.

“August is often a quiet time for Orange, with cellar door visits and tourism dropping, so part of the purpose of the fire festival is to bring people here and give them something different to do,” Ms Lovick said.

Following a sell out of the first-round of tickets, a second round is now available through eventbrite.