THE HISTORY OF WASSAILING

Wassailing is believed to date back to Roman times, when it was part of a festival for praising and encouraging Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees. During AngloSaxon times, the lord of the manor would greet the assembled gatherers with the toast “waes hael”, meaning “be well” or “be in good health”, to which his followers would reply “drink hael”, or “drink well” celebrating the New Year with a glass or two.

Depending on where you lived, the wassail drink would consist of a warmed ale, wine or cider, blended with spices, honey and sometimes an egg or two served in a large bowl (made of silver or pewter) which was passed around with the greeting “Wassail!”

The wassailing celebrations mainly take place on Twelfth Night, 5 January. Some occur on Old Twelvey Night, 17 January, the original date before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752.

There are two traditional ways of wassailing.

The house-visiting wassail was a pre-Christmas practice involving filling a cup and passing it around a room to be shared, or taking a bowl of wassail around houses in exchange for gifts.

Farmers and lords of the manor were the prime targets for visits by wassailers. If they were stingy, they risked being abused or even having their property vandalised.

The orchard-visiting wassail blesses the trees. This custom was especially important when part of a labourer’s wages was paid in apple cider. Landlords needed a good apple crop to attract good workers. Wassailing was meant to keep the tree safe from evil spirits until next year’s apples appeared.

According to Brightwell-cumSotwell’s records, some form of wassailing took place 300 years ago. More recently, Jason says, “small groups of old men could still be spotted on a cold winter’s night making their way into one of the orchards with a shotgun and flask of cider in the 1970s.”