Wassail (2024)

FAQs

What is wassail drink made of? ›

What is Wassail? Wassail is like the tastier sister to Apple Cider. Traditional wassail was made with hard liquor, apples, brandy, and other spices. This recipe is made with cloves, apples, cinnamon, lemon, orange, ginger, and nutmeg and is a nonalcoholic wassail recipe.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "wassail" originated as a borrowing from the Old Norse salutation ves heill, corresponding to Old English hál wes þú or wes hál; literally meaning 'be in good health' or 'be fortunate'.

Wassailing is a very ancient custom that is rarely done today. The word 'wassail' comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase 'waes hael', which means 'good health'. Originally, the wassail was a drink made of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and sugar.

Wassail (/ˈwɒsəl/, /-eɪl/ WOSS-əl, -⁠ayl, most likely from Old Norse "ves heill") is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation either involved in door-to-door charity-giving or used to ...

“Wassail” is the modern spelling of the old English phrase “waes hael” meaning “good health!” Shared as a salutation or toast, the proper response was “drink health!” and indeed, wassail is a drink, as well.

Wassailing is a Twelfth Night tradition with pagan roots and has been practised in Britain for centuries. Discover the celebration and its rituals, including sipping from a communal wassail bowl.

“The term 'wassail' comes from an Anglo-Saxon phrase that meant good health, so it was a toast to good health,” Lynch-Thomason said. “Wassail itself was a drink, usually made from ale and cooked apples and a lot of spices that would be served in households, often around Twelfth Night or Christmastime or New Year's.

Tips to improve your English pronunciation:

Break 'wassail' down into sounds: [WOS] + [AYL] - say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them.

Glühwein, as mulled wine is known in Germany, is essentially red wine heated with spices, lemon and sugar - generally cinnamon and cloves are used in all recipes, with some adding aniseed or vanilla. A variation on the mulled wine is the Feuerzangenbowle.

Christmas is one of the few times of the year that we drink sweet wines after dinner. A small serving of Port or a luscious sweet white wine, served in a decent glass, is a fitting end to the meal. You can then mull over life, Christmas and the year to come, over a glass of fine Irish whiskey.

What do you wear to a wassail? ›

The entire event is outdoors. You should wear footwear suitable for muddy and uneven ground. Wear warm / waterproof clothing appropriate for the conditions. This is a fun evening so you may wish to dress up a little with fancy Wassail hats and coats.

Cider is poured around the roots of the tree, while pots and pans are clattered to ward off any evil spirits and wake the trees from their winter slumber. The crowd will also serenade the tree with chants and traditional songs, often followed by Morris dancing.

In some places, particularly South West England, Old Twelfth Night is still celebrated on 17 January. This continues the custom of the Apple Wassail on the date that corresponded to 6 January on the Julian calendar at the time of the change in calendars enacted by the Calendar Act of 1750.

Wassailing is an English tradition which comes from the UK's cider making regions like the South West. It involves 'waking the trees' by banging pots and pans, singing,, dancing, and making lots of noise to ward off bad spirits and encourage a good harvest in the year to come.

In some regions of medieval Britain, wassail involved a large gathering of tenants at the manor house where the master, channeling Rowena, would hold up a bowl of steaming spiced wine or ale and shout, “Wassail!” with the crowd replying, “Drink hail!” before devolving into Christmas revelry.