Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wassailing,
So fair to be seen:
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you and send you,
A happy New Year,
And God send you a happy new year.
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you and send you,
A happy New Year,
And God send you a happy new year.
The custom of wassailing is over 600 years old. The word has roots in Old English (I actually have a university credit in Old English, so useful). It meant "Be well". Originally, the tradition was to pass a bowl of a spiced drink around the members of a household. As each drank from the bowl, the assembly would wish the drinker the best of the season, "Waes Hael".
I wonder who was the first mildly inebriated soul to say,"Let's go over and visit our neighbours and let them drink too!" For, over time, the tradition changed and people went door to door spreading season's cheer. (Go back to the blog on August 28th, Mummer Barbie and her Ugly Stick.)
When we were kids, my favourite thing to do was to go visit any of my mother's 10 siblings and their kids. Sometimes, after we arrived at one house, we'd all decide to visit a third family group and if enough of us gathered, we sang.
My father always put on his uniform and went to the mess on New Year's Day for a levee. This tradition harks back to the seventeenth century and owes much to the fur traders. They drank a concoction they called le sang du caribou. The English changed the formula and called it moose milk.
Final note, one version of the drink in the Wassail bowl was a mixture called lamb's wool. It had little pieces of toast floating on top that (to someone's eyes) resembled lamb's wool and it left us with a new meaning for the word 'toast'.
To your health!
When we were kids, my favourite thing to do was to go visit any of my mother's 10 siblings and their kids. Sometimes, after we arrived at one house, we'd all decide to visit a third family group and if enough of us gathered, we sang.
My father always put on his uniform and went to the mess on New Year's Day for a levee. This tradition harks back to the seventeenth century and owes much to the fur traders. They drank a concoction they called le sang du caribou. The English changed the formula and called it moose milk.
Final note, one version of the drink in the Wassail bowl was a mixture called lamb's wool. It had little pieces of toast floating on top that (to someone's eyes) resembled lamb's wool and it left us with a new meaning for the word 'toast'.
To your health!
You are a fountain of knowledge.
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