By Harmeet Kaur, CNN
(CNN) — ‘Tis the season to indulge in mulled wine — or if you’re feeling especially festive, wassail.
Like other words such as “yule” and “mistletoe,” wassail — from the Middle English salutation wæs hæil, meaning “be in good health,” derived in turn from Old Norse — evokes some kind of ancient holiday tradition. But its particulars, like the warm, spiced beverage that shares its name with the activity, can be cloudy.
Wassailing, at its core, is a toast to good health and fortune that historically took two distinct forms: Singing to fruit trees and singing door-to-door.
Orchard wassailing, meant to ward off bad spirits and usher in an abundant harvest, might involve such traditions as banging on pots and pans, pouring apple cider on a tree’s roots or ceremonial singing, per the researcher Edward Wigley. Another, related medieval custom involved peasants traveling from manor to manor, wassail bowl in hand, toasting to the health of landowners in exchange for something in return.
Both customs are thought to have originated in Britain, though when exactly they were observed shifted over time with changes to the festive calendar. Some speculate that wassailing predates Christianity in the region; others note its association with the Christian holiday of Twelfth Night. Even the drink had innumerable variations — it could be made with ale, wine or cider depending on the context, while some versions mixed in cream and eggs.
Centuries later, people are still wassailing, but Wigley notes its history has been “patchy and discontinuous in places.” The tradition supposedly declined in the 20th century, though articles in US newspapers around the turn of the 1900s were already declaring the custom antiquated, reporting that it had never fully taken hold stateside. You might be familiar with the English Christmas carol “Here We Come A-wassailing,” sung from the perspective of the poor appealing to the generosity of those more fortunate, or perhaps the carols “Gower Wassail” and “Gloucestershire Wassail.” In “Wassailing: Reawakening an Ancient Folk Custom,” Colin and Karen Cater credit “wassail” songs for helping reignite enthusiasm around the tradition.
Since the early 2000s, wassailing has been experiencing a revival, and in some cases, a reinvention. Intriguingly, Wigley notes, the practice lives on not just in small English towns with centuries-old wassailing traditions, but also in urban and suburban areas with no history of the ancient folk ritual. It’s become a way to hold onto some sense of culture and heritage.
Chris Barltrop, in a 2002 article published in the journal “Folklore,” referred to wassailing as a “Real Local Event” (as opposed to “the Not-So-Real ones”). Describing a scene in northwestern England, he wrote: “Torches were lit, one from another. The drum beat a simple rhythm, the accordion played in two-time, the fiddler joined in, and we walked away from the inn, a long, long line of us, along the road, through the village, the band and Morris Men leading, the line of torches following for 150 yards behind, carrying the warmth and light of fire to warm the Cider-God back to life from his midwinter slumber.”