Wassail! This is from Historic UK’S website; “Anglo-Saxon tradition dictated that at the beginning of each year, the lord of the manor would greet the assembled multitude with the toast waes hael, meaning “be well” or “be in good health”, to which his followers would reply drink hael, or “drink well”, and so the New Year celebrations would start with a glass or two, or perhaps even a drop more! It is likely that such celebrations were being enjoyed many years before Christianity began to spread throughout Britain from around 600 onwards.”
Wassail is a dual tradition as it has been around for so very long, evolving ultimately into carol singing… The oldest form was about warding off bad spirits from fruit orchards whilst appeasing the spirits of the trees. This is pure pagan fertility stuff! Christianity annexed and altered it, just like Easter with its own fertility symbols and in time, this was attached to the the last day of Christmas, or Twelfth Night, which is today. So I figured I would try a different New year greeting from Slingshot World!
The later wassail tradition was about groups of people visiting houses to drink toasts to the good health of the people who lived there, with a drink in a wassail bowl, singing traditional songs and generally spreading the love.
So if you fancy being kind of ancient today, go out to a fruit tree, pour cider on its roots, then make a massive racket! Alternatively, you can make this for your own wassail bowl:
4 pints cider
1½ cups orange juice
¾ cup pineapple juice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ginger
4 cinnamon sticks
2 oranges, 2 apples
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Pour the cider and orange and pineapple juice into a pot and warm over a low flame.
Add the ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger and cinnamon sticks.
While the wassail is warming, peel off strips of the orange peel with a knife and add them to the pot. Put the whole cloves into the oranges where the peel has been sliced off and place them in the pot.
Slice the apples into wedges and insert cloves on their inner edge, then put into the pot, along with the brown sugar and gently simmer until it smells divine!
A very Happy New Year from Slingshot World. May thine be fertile and fecund!
