Origin of Wassail and Wassailing

This year, my wife asked me to come up with a special drink for our annual Christmas Party.  In the past I've created a number of interesting concoctions that folks have usually sampled, smiled cordially, and secretly put down in a hidden corner of the house.

Traditional Wassail makes a Party

Being the traditionalist, I opted to take it up a notch, and researching the topic of Wassailing for this Christmas Series gave me the idea of seeking out the original Wassail recipe for my guests to enjoy.  The trouble is that after googling Wassail, I believe I came up with at least 40-50 different recipes for this drink.   

Well, after reviewing them all, and cross-referencing them against several historical essays, I opted to go with a recipe (that I admit I have not yet tried) which I hope meets the standard of the age, and the taste buds of my wonderful guests (soon to arrive in approximately 6 hours from now... Yikes!).

Of course, it would be unlike me to not give you a brief history on the origin of Wassail and Wassailing.

What is Wassailing?

The act of Wassailing as we know it today comes from the English ancient tradition of drinking and caroling during Christmas or Yuletide season.  The term Wassail can be loosely translated from Norse from the phrase ves heil and the English hal which means "be healthy" or "to be in good health".  It was used as a greeting before it was known has a potent drink.  It's not surprising that similar to our use of the term Cheers, it was used as a form of toasting one another.  The German phrase Prosit and the English Cheers are synonymous for the same general meaning - a salute of good health and prosperity.

History.com notates that the term Wassail also appears in the well-known English poem Beowulf and appears like this:

The rider sleepeth,
the hero, far-hidden; no harp resounds,
in the courts no wassail, as once was heard.

Further, History.com references its use, the anonymous Anglo-Norman Poet, who witnessed the Saxon toasting cry before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, wrote:

Rejoice and wassail
Pass the bottle and drink healthy
Drink backwards and drink to me
Drink half and drink empty.

As time continued on, this tradition continued and there are several references to Wassailing during Christmastime, which has been well-recorded since the 13th Century in England as a yearly tradition.  The tradition was not necessarily the merry one for all concerned according to historical reports.

If you have read my blog article on the Origins of Halloween, you might see some similarities to that story.  Apparently, Wassailing was a method by which roving bands of people would approach the homes of the well-to-do but with twist of providing song to the homeowner in return for payment.  Instead of facing destruction in the same manner as those who did in the during old version of English "trick or treat', home owners would be ready to pay the fee to the gangs thus saving themselves, and their property from damage.  Wassailing was also known to have taken place around the entire Christmas season, even occurring on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

There are still many stories about the roving bands of drunken thugs and poor city-dwellers, who continued this practice through the 1600 and 1700s; And eventually this was another holiday imported into Colonial America.  Cotton Matther makes reference to the practice that evolved around and from Wassailing in his 1712 entry decrying its ills:

""Feast of Christ's Nativity is spent in Reveling, Dicing, Carding, Masking, and in all Licentious Liberty ...by Mad Mirth, by long eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, by rude Reveling. . . ."  It interesting to note that during the Puritan American period, the strict orthodox religious practices forbade this sort of behavior, but as the practices were important by more immigrants of less strict religions, the tight grip of the Church could not stop its growing impact.

While I agree, that there is a difference between reasonable celebration and unlawful destructive drunken celebrations, the ongoing clash between the Church and the Public over non-Christian or secular interjection into religious holidays and feasts has been well documented for centuries. Christmas is the most obvious, and Easter is a close second its adaption of the Easter Bunny, etc.

Wassailing in the last two centuries to present

As with most of the traditions we've discussed in this blog, Wassailing morphed over the years. Wassailing parties lost their violent edge in the mid-1800s, and as yet another element of the desire to "bring back Christmas in its old form" it was taken up by the middle-classes as part of the regular Christmas tradition.  The act of Wassailing a house is described is best described in this blog entry. 

The song Here we come a-wassailing is a well known Christmas Carol that has been sung for over a century and a half. Sadly, I could not find a reference to its original author or year of publication as of this writing, but if I do, I will update this blog entry.  The song's refrain has been modified in some versions to read Here we come a Caroling which is good segway to of discussion of Wassailing in the current age.  Wassailing in its form of drinking and going door to door appears to have lost its appeal during the World War II years, although it apparently still continues in some places where they hold true their old traditions - including English villages and some country towns in the United States. 

For the most part, Wassailing has really morphed into Christmas Caroling, which does still take place in suburbs.  It's sort of funny that in this day and age, it seems a bit odd to do things like this - since we've seemingly become a society that less resembles the niceties seen in black and white films viewed on American Movie Classics (although I believe that we all secretly desire them).  In fact, I will be participating with a kids group this week to go about singing carols in a local neighborhood to spread the Christmas Cheer.  Obviously, since this is a kids focused event, we will not be going about intoxicated. 

For those not included to go Caroling, you can do what many of us do to incorporate the old with the new - host a Christmas Party and brew up some of your old Wassail as a tribute to the days of roving bands of those in Christmas Spirit (note the irony)!

The recipe

I planned on publishing this entry before we hosted our Annual Christmas Party.  But as it happens, the pre-party preparations of cleaning, shopping and everything else took priority over blogging (despite my attempts to blog which drew laser pointed eyes from my fellow host!). 

Baking apples for Wassail

While seeking a recipe, I opted to skip those using eggs which can be a very tricky business to deal with - specifically, trying to separate the egg whites.  I also opted on a version that I couldn't accidental ruin due to my less than amateur chef-ery.  I looked at nearly 40 different recipes and simply opted on one that I found at a website that used beer as a base - which was likely "more traditional" since it was more apt to be available in olden days whereas the use of eggs would likely not have been on hand in mid-winter. 

This is the recipe that I used giving credit to the Accidental Hedonist website:

Ingredients:

• 2 pints and 1/4 cup brown ale (winter ale and Scottish ale will also suffice)
• 3-4 cinnamon sticks
• 4 cloves
• Zest from 1/2 lemon
• 4 apples
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup port
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Newcastle as my Wassail base

In a large sauce pan, pour in 2 pints of ale. Add the cinnamon sticks, lemon zest and cloves and bring to a simmer over low heat.

Take an apple, and score it with a knife around the circumference of the apple. Place in a baking dish. Repeat this step for all of the apples. Cover with one cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of ale, and all of the port. Cover baking dish and place in oven, cooking for 30 minutes.

While apples are baking, place remaining sugar and spices into the sauce pan, ensuring it's well mixed.
When apples are done baking, place entire contents of baking dish into sauce pan. Allow to cook over a low heat for another 30-40 minutes.

Serve hot, one-two ladles into your favorite mug.
Serves 6-8

A few observations on the results of the recipe.  First, my guests really enjoyed it!  I found it to be a bit heavy on brown sugar taste, so when I go to make my next version (I have only made this once), I might reduce the sugar content a bit.  I also might add in a tad more Port to the mix. 

I also doubled the recipe and yet my Wassail Pot was empty in under an hour!  So, if you are making Wassail for a large crowd, consider your portion to guest ratio.  While no one went away without tasting it, my guests wanted more - and sadly, once its gone - its gone!  So warning to the wise - Wassail will not sit in the corner once your guests get their first taste, so make enough for seconds, thirds, fourths, etc.

A good friend of mine who is a historian by trade commented that the fact that it was a special delight to enjoy the Wassail because it was an opportunity to enjoy a warm alcoholic beverage for a change.  He remarked that it's not something that you find in restaurants and bars, or even house parties these days.  That was an interesting thought, since most people do settle on providing an iced rum or grain punch at most house parties that even I've attended.  Certainly, a thought to consider for future Christmas or Winter Parties going forward.  It was nice to have guests recognize that I went the extra mile!

Lastly, I wanted to include the words to the well-known Carol Here we come a Wassailing for good measure.  I hope you get at chance to make your own Wassail.  If you stumble across this blog entry, I'd like to hear what you've tried and what's worked for your guests.

Here we come a-wassailing (Author Unknown)

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.


REFRAIN:


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.
Our wassail cup is made
Of the rosemary tree,
And so is your beer
Of the best barley.


REFRAIN


We are not daily beggars
That beg from door to door;
But we are neighbours' children,
Whom you have seen before.


REFRAIN


Call up the butler of this house,
Put on his golden ring.
Let him bring us up a glass of beer,
And better we shall sing.


REFRAIN


We have got a little purse
Of stretching leather skin;
We want a little of your money
To line it well within.


REFRAIN


Bring us out a table
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a mouldy cheese,
And some of your Christmas loaf.


REFRAIN


God bless the master of this house
Likewise the mistress too,
And all the little children
That round the table go.


REFRAIN


Good master and good mistress,
While you're sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who are wandering in the mire.
REFRAIN

The original blog article can found at my blog Random Selection which is located at  www.randsel.blogspot.com