Wassailing
Orchard blessing tradition
Wassailing is the old English custom of going door to door singing carols and offering toasts of spiced ale or cider, especially around Christmas.
The word comes from an Anglo-Saxon toast meaning "be in good health." In apple-growing regions, wassailing also refers to the ritual of singing to orchard trees to ensure a good harvest: The village wassailing tradition dates back centuries.
Festive religious songs
- singersThose who vocalize melodies
- door-to-doorDirectly between residences
- ChristmasWinter nativity celebration
- mummersCostumed folk play performers
yuletide · procession · lanterns · harmonies · Victorian · Dickensian · neighborhood · figgy pudding
carols
Festive religious songs
- singersThose who vocalize melodies
- door-to-doorDirectly between residences
- ChristmasWinter nativity celebration
mummers · yuletide · procession · lanterns · harmonies · Victorian · Dickensian · neighborhood · figgy pudding · good cheer
apple trees
Fruit-bearing orchard plants
ritual · toast · libation · branches · harvest · Somerset · Devon · folklore · pagan · awakening
mulled cider
Heated, spiced apple beverage
honey · ginger · lambswool · toast · festive · warming · recipe · ladle · sharing · hospitality
Wassailingsolitude
State of being alone
isolation · seclusion · hermitage · reclusiveness · quietude
Wassailingsilent vigil
Wordless period of watchfulness
monastic silence · mourning · lamentation · funeral rites · silent prayer
Wassailingfasting
Deliberate food avoidance
abstinence · teetotaling · temperance · sobriety · asceticism