by Judith Stafford | Jan 21, 2021 | Away with the Fairies
Here we go a Wassailing….. (Any excuse to drink cider!) I remember singing the carol ‘Here we go a Wassailing’ at school without having a clue what it was about. Just in case you don’t know. Wassailing is a folk tradition that entails the ritual blessing of fruit trees in winter to ensure a good harvest in the following autumn. It usually involves drinking, making loud noises and apple trees - just an average night out for some people, with an apple tree thrown in! If anyone fancies trying it, the good news is, wassailing has seen a recent revival. What is wassailing Wassailing is the practice of the community visiting the neighbourhood orchards, selecting a tree, usually the oldest, singing, or chanting a rhyme and making lots of noise while drinking mulled cider or wine. The remains of the cider in the wassail cup are poured onto the tree. Wassailing come from the old English words ‘waes hael’ meaning ‘good health’, our equivalent of ‘Cheers’. It started as a drinking salute and later became associated with a particular drink and the tradition of wassailing. Wassailing usually occurs around the Christmas holiday or just after at the beginning of January often on 12th night on the 6th January although it is often celebrated on the old pre-Gregorian 12th night of 17 January. It is probably of pagan origin but was assimilated into Christianity where it became part of the Christmas tradition. The wassailing drink originally started off as a mulled wine or mead, then evolved into a drink more associated with apples and is made of mulled cider, with sugar...
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