Curious about wassailing

[smallblueplanet]

Here We Go A-Wassailing

by Lisa Agnew

There are three forms of Christmas/New Year celebration involving wassail, a beverage originally made of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, nuts, eggs and spices. In modern times the concoction has been replaced by eggnog or spiced cider, but the legend of its inception goes right back to Saxon times and is spelt out in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain and involves Rowena, daughter of Hengist, a Saxon mercenary, who presents the future King Vortigern with a bowl of mulled wine and the cheer "Waes Hael!", meaning good health. Vortigern, of course, falls in love with the beautiful Saxon maiden and marries her. Traditionally this drink and its more modern variant, Lamb's Wool, is served on New Year's Eve and Twelfth Night. Lambs Wool is heated cider spiced with sugar, nutmeg and ginger. Roast apples float on the surface and when the soft apple pulp bursts into the vat, it gives the drink a frothy or woolly look.

The first Wassail celebration involves Christmas revellers taking a Wassail bowl, usually a large wooden vessel (although ornate examples have been crafted of silver or pewter) from house to house to distribute good cheer. If one was in the regent's court, the bowl was passed from hall to hall as a form of loving cup. However, the most ancient form of the Wassail celebration involves the blessing of trees and bees, so important to pollination, to ensure a healthy crop for the coming year. One of the songs associated with this practice declares,

Here's to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou may'st bud, and thou may'st blow,
And whence thou may'st bear apples enow,
Hats full! Caps full!
Bushel -- bushel -- sacks full!
And my pockets full too! Huzza!


The earliest known practice was to pour a sanctified liquid onto the dormant crops and orchards after the harvest, blessing the ground for the coming of spring and warding off evil. This evolved into the Wassailing of the Apples Trees celebration. The village of Carhampton in Somerset still celebrates the Wassailing of the Apple Trees on Old Twelfth Night (January 17). Other regions hold similar observances on traditional Twelfth Night (January 5). Other trees may be wassailed, yet most usually it is the sturdiest apple tree in the orchard which is so honoured. The apple has long enjoyed a special place in the diet of the English. The fruit is said to be effective against melancholy and to 'smele to an old swete apple' helps one recover his strength. By Shakespeare's time, apples were a favourite dessert, easily cooked to a consistency suitable for young and old alike.

The blowing of horns heralds the Wassailing of the Apple Trees celebration, as a beverage, usually cider, is poured on the roots of the finest tree and a wassail cake placed in the branches as an offering to the tree spirits and elementals who ensure fruitful harvest. Then the beating of kettles and firing of guns loaded with powder are used to drive away the witches and ghosts believed to reside in the crown of the apple tree. This is followed by a wassailing song sung to the tree (or the hive in the tree, in the case of bees!) as in --

Wassail, wassail all round the town;
The zider-cup's white and the zider's brown;
Our zider is made vrom good apple trees,
And now my vine vellows we'll drink if you please.


It was also believed, especially in the West Country, that the spirits of the trees were incarnated in robins and other small birds. Young lads representing these birds climbed the apple trees and cried 'Tit-tit, I want more to eat.' A piece of cake, cheese or bread was either handed up to him or dipped in cider and placed in the forks of the tree branches 'for the robins'.

When the farmers return to their homes, tradition dictates that they be denied entrance to their hearth until they guess the name of the roast being prepared within, a game which usually does not take that long! Then the party begins anew.

As this was the end of the traditional Christmas season, it was also seen as a time for one last revelry, with games and plays, often overseen by the Lord of Misrule, a peasant or similar unfortunate chosen by the gentry to be Lord for the Day. Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night was more than likely written for a Twelfth Night celebration at Elizabeth I's court in 1601. Wassail and Twelfth Night were part of the entire Yule celebration, a period of mid-winter festivity dating from well before the time of Christ. Over the centuries other elements have been added to this pagan celebration, so that aspects of Christian mythology, such as the mummers' plays starring King Herod and St George, are enacted side by side with more ancient symbology. Thirteen fires are lit about the area of the celebrations, twelve small and one extra large. Many interpretations have been given to these fires -- the twelve apostles and Christ, twelve months in the year overseen by the sun etc. -- although, again, the true reason is probably so old that it has long been forgotten.

The Oxhorn Dance is another prehistoric remnant, consisting of six dancers bedecked in oxen costume. They circle around the foot of the tree that was honoured in the Wassailing ceremony, their stamping a signal to awaken the animal and earth spirits for spring time. The best of these performers is honoured by having an Oxhorn Cake, similar to the wassail cake, placed on his ox horn. He must then dance around and try to dislodge the cake as the watching revellers eat their own versions of this delicacy and try to guess whether the Oxhorn Cake will fall before or behind the ox performer.

The obvious pagan undertones of these celebrations did not augur well with the Christian church, especially the Puritan faction. In Scotland, John Knox put an end to Christmas in 1562. In England the observance of Christmas was forbidden by an Act of Parliament in 1644, which declared Christmas "an extreme forgetfulness of Christ by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights." The House of Commons sat on Christmas Day and sheriffs were sent out into the countryside to make sure that merchants opened for business on the day. This led to a situation of stand-off between Pro-and anti-Christmas factions and riots ensued. Upon the restoration of Charles II to the throne, Christmas celebrations were once again permitted.

Here We Go A-Wassailing

[smallblueplanet]

Carols, Wassailers, Waits and Mummers

by Julia Hickey

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without carols like God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. (Note that the carol is not aimed at "merry gentlemen," but urges gentlemen to "rest ye merry.") For many people in Britain, Christmas really begins at the moment when the carol service from King's College, Cambridge, is broadcast -- a tradition that began in 1928. The service of nine lessons and carols at King's took shape in 1918, and since 1919, even during the dark days of World War Two, the first carol has always been Once in Royal David's City.

For some, Christmas carols will be forever associated with a Salvation Army band; for others, a nativity service at school. And then of course there are assorted carol services across the country in cathedrals, churches and chapels. There is nothing quite like a cathedral carol service -- the music of the choir accompanied by soaring organ notes and the raised voices of the congregation lift the experience beyond a visit to an empty building, and the cathedral comes to life. Of course, there's also nothing quite like a Midnight Mass celebrated in a parish church. People come quietly out of the stillness of the night to celebrate Christ's birth with well loved Christmas hymns, to share friendship and exchange greetings before returning through the frosty air to their homes. It seems a ritual that has been passed from generation to generation, century after century.

And so it has -- just not in church! As late as 1435, Church Councils condemned carols as pagan practices, and the Puritans banned them along with mince pies in 1647. It took another 150 years for carols to recover. Perhaps this is not too surprising, given that one of the oldest carols, The Holly and the Ivy -- thought to be over a thousand years old -- has little to do with the nativity in its original form. Another, The Boar's Head Carol -- written during the 12th century -- clearly has even less to do with the celebration of Christ's birth and much more to do with the merrymaking from which the word carol is derived. "Carol" originally came from an old French word meaning a jolly ring dance; the song went with the dance.

Here We Come a Wassailing is about merrymaking and ensuring good fortune and a heavy apple yield for the following year. Wassail comes from an Anglo Saxon word that means good health. Groups of labourers -- wassailers -- would travel from orchard to orchard wassailing the trees to drive away evil spirits and ensure a good crop the following year. The custom is still practised in parts of Somerset, Dorset and Devon. Wassailers were, and still are, given money and a heady brew called lamb's wool that definitely gives a warm glow to the festive season! (For more information, see Here We Go A-Wassailing.)

Early Church Fathers may have frowned upon the merry carol tunes that invited folk to dance and be happy, but ordinary people used them to celebrate Christmas with gusto. As early as 1300 groups of waits (night watchmen) were forming groups and singing and dancing their way through carols for the entertainment of their neighbours and to earn a few extra pence or flagon of ale from the gentlefolk they watched over. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen wasn't formally recorded for many centuries, but it is thought to be a 15th century waits carol.

At the start of the 18th century, the only really well known carol to find its way into the hymn book was While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, which was written during the 17th century. Gradually, though, carols were becoming respectable. The dissenting churches recognised the power of the carol as an act of celebration. Charles Wesley wrote Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and O Come All Ye Faithful was also written during this time. Even so, carol services were still relatively unusual when Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 -- though the ghost of Christmas Present, with his desire for feasting, singing, dancing and general enjoyment, would undoubtedly have approved.

Times were changing! A number of Victorians wrote down the carols they heard, collections were printed, and families gathered to sing from them at Christmas. Collections of carols remain popular today -- there are some beautifully illustrated examples. Respectability was finally achieved in 1878 when the choir of Turo Cathedral sang their carols inside the cathedral rather than in the streets of the city. The story of the nativity was told in nine lessons interspaced with carols, which brings us back to the carols from King's College Cambridge, which uses the same format.

The dancing element of caroling has fared less well. Records from medieval times show that kings and commoners threw themselves into midwinter revelry with troupes of guisers or mummers providing light-hearted entertainment. A beautifully illustrated manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford shows the elaborate costumes and animal masks worn by court entertainers in the reign of Edward III. The actors -- all men -- were called guisers because they were disguised by animal masks. Mummers -- also all men -- might wear masks or might blacken their faces to disguise themselves. If the audience were to recognise one of the players, the magic created by the performance would be lost. Masques and performances continued to be part of the Christmas celebrations at court throughout the Tudor and Jacobean periods.

Folk plays performed by ordinary men for their communities also thrived. Each is slightly different, as might be expected, but all follow the same basic plot. A knight confronts his enemy, one of them is slain and then revived by a 'Doctor'. The theme of the play -- nature's cycle of life and death -- is definitely pagan. The play concludes with celebrations, a hat is passed around for people to give money and ale is offered to the players. One of the characters is often called St. George; another (the one usually killed and then revived) is called the Turk. His appearance dates back to the crusades. Elsewhere this role may be that of real historical character. The fear with which Cromwell and Napoleon were regarded is reflected in their appearance in these plays. Often, there is also a man dressed as a woman, and by the 18th century Father Christmas had joined the ranks of the players as a narrator. The plays were written down in the 18th century at a time when they were beginning to decline in popularity; perhaps the lure of the new Christmas theatricals was too great.

Despite their relative decline following industrialisation, the plays have survived in pockets across the country; Belvoir, Leominster, North Muskham and Overton all have annual performances. These folk plays are real community entertainment and the costumes are brilliant. Often, the mummers wear 'ribbon' costumes, like fitted rag rugs, completing the ensemble with a hat and bells. It's a spectacle not to be missed. If you won't be in England at Christmas, there are opportunities to see Mummers in Cheshire celebrating Halloween and in the Upper Calder valley in Yorkshire celebrating Easter.

Caroling may be very far removed from dancing in a circle, but one thing is for sure: there's still much merriment to be found in the season of carols and winter plays. Why not take the opportunity to attend a carol service? It may not be the middle of the bleak midwinter and there may be no snow falling but the atmosphere in a church or cathedral at Christmas time is indescribably, spine-tingling ethereal. Or perhaps accept the National Trust's invitation to one of England's stately homes to listen to a choir and partake of a mince pie. Leave the hustle and bustle of the world neatly parked outside and indulge yourself. There is something timeless about listening to a choir in a recital room, ball room or great hall. There are full details on the Trust's web site. Cromwell wouldn't approve but generations of waits, carol singers, wassailers, guisers and mummers most definitely would!

Carols, Wassailers, Waits and Mummers

[terrier]

Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green
Here we come a-wassailing so fairly to be seen
Now is Wintertime and strangers travel far and near
and we wish you and send you a Happy New Year.

Hat fulls, cap fulls, three bushel bags fulls
Little heaps in and under the stairs
Hip Hip, Hurrah!

Seahorse, there's no reason why you can't start your own Wassail, after all, all traditions must have been started by SOMEONE!

So here is to Dobbin and to his right eye
May god send our master a good Christmas pie
And a good Christmas pie, may we all see
With a Wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.

And a Very Merry Christmas To All, CHEERS

[pigletwillie]

You know... I'm so tempted but I'm not sure I want to be responsible for a spate of heart attacks amongst the old boys who are my lottie neighbours!!!

We would be prepared to take the risk on our site, what day are you free???

[Flummery]

The reply to Wassail is All hail! I tend to give new trees and bushes a little drinkie poo at New year in the spirit of Wassailing. By the time I've finished with it though, it is literally the drop at the bottom of the glass.