Twelfth Night

Anne here. We're coming to the end of our daily Christmastide posts, celebrating the twelve days of Christmas - Nicola will be presenting the last one tomorrow. But today, the 5th January, brings us Twelfth Night, celebrated in song and verse — and of course in the play by Shakespeare.

Traditionally on Twelfth Night we take down the Christmas decorations, because by 6th January they're supposed to be down. Don't ask me why — it's said to be bad luck if you don't. It's also the day to drink to the health of your apple trees by toasting them in wassail, a hot cidery punch, which sounds like a lot more fun than packing up your decorations and ornaments for another year, which I always think is rather a melancholy activity.

The word Wassail comes from the old Saxon "was hail" which means "be whole" (hail being the same as our modern day hale) and in the olden days, you prepared your hot wassail, carried it in a big wooden or earthenware bowl down to the orchard, to the oldest tree in the orchard. There you drank to the health of your apple trees, to awaken them from the winter cold, and to scare away the evil spirits in the hope of a good harvest to come. And as a gift to the good spirits, you soaked a piece of toast in the wassail and hung it in the tree, and poured a mug of the drink over their roots.

In some places there was a Wassail Queen, in others a small child might be sent up the tree with the soaked toast. And in plenty of places people dipped their own toast in the drink to sop it up. Obviously in the cold of winter this would be a pretty popular activity, especially as you had a noble reason for doing it.

A song might be sung or an incantation chanted. Here's one (from Wikipedia):
Here's to thee, old apple tree,

That blooms well, bears well.

Hats full, caps full,

Three bushel bags full,

An' all under one tree.
Hurrah! Hurrah!
Here’s to thee, old apple-tree,

Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow,

And whence thou mayst bear apples enow! [enough]
Hats-full!
Caps-full!
Bushel, bushel sacks-full!

And my pockets full, too! Hurra!

These days in parts of England where the old traditions still hold, some people still go out and wassail their apple trees, for reasons of tradition or belief or simply for fun. Me, I think it's a delightful and delicious tradition, and one well worth following.

There are dozens of recipes on the web for wassail. Here's one recipe and here's a quick and easy one.  And while I'm all in favor of drinking the health of apple trees (not that I have any) it's hot in Australia at the moment and hot wassail isn't really my er, cup of tea in the heat. So if you're in my neck of the woods (or orchards) you could always try this recipe for cold wassail-spiked champagne. It's all research, you know.

Have you ever wassailed a tree? Do you like hot punch? Are you taking your decorations down, or will you leave them up for a bit longer? How was your Christmas?

Comments

[StephanieL]

We don't wassail any trees...LOL But I adore wassail. I made one earlier in December that was very similar to your first recipe but I used apple whiskey instead of brandy. As it is 17 degrees here today, I'm thinking I may need to make up some more!

We took our tree down Monday because the lights had started to die. I usually leave mine up until after my in-laws Christmas (which has to happen after the Bowl Games because a third of us are working them) but not this year. I miss the lights when the tree gets packed up. If I had my way, it would be up 365. :-)

[Kathy K]

We don't have any apple trees to wassail. But our habit to celebrate 12th night is to attend a Boar's Head Festival at a church in Ft. Worth. It's an absolutely gorgeous pageant with orchestra, bell choir, singing, dancing and amazing costumes.

[Mollie]

We have two apple trees on our property but we have never wasailed them. Sounds like an interesting and fun activity, though. And I bet my grandgirls would love climbing the tree with the toast! May consider it in the future. Thanks for posting.

[Sue McCormick]

I have never wassailed a tree! I don't like alcoholic drinks much (they give me indigestion!). What I DO like, and often enjoy in the winter. Is Hot Apple Cider (Sweet Cider as opposed to Hard Cider). So, I'm afraid that will need to be my holiday drink of choice. (I used to like Egg Nog — made without the spirits — but more recently that hasn't done much for my digestive abilities).

[Teresa Broderick]

We take our decorations down after the 6th and yes it is a sad time. The house always looks so bare for a few days. I've never had wassail so might have a shot at one of your receipes. I love tradition.

[Anne Gracie]

Stephanie, I love the lights, too. Yesterday I took down all my Christmas decorations, but left the tiny white fairy lights that were draped around the lounge room, just because I enjoy them so much.

Your wassail sounds lovely -- apple whiskey sounds perfect to me. And brrr, yes, I suspect it would be very welcome in the cold, especially.

[Anne Gracie]

Kathey what a fabulous-sounding festival. I love pageantry and music and costumes. I've never heard of a Boar's Head Festival and I'm wondering whether you feast off the boar's head, or whether it's symbolic. I'll have to google it.

You've reminded me that the Greeks celebrate Theofania (Epiphany) with a midnight service, and in the daytime they dive for the cross, which is much more fun in Australia than in Greece, as it's warm here. I remember one time in Greece where they had to break the ice before the young men plunged into the freezing water. Here they dive off a pier at the beach and it's usually hot.

[Anne Gracie]

Mollie, keep us posted. I'm sure your granddaughters would love to be queens of wassail. Perhaps with a cute twiggy coronet. *g*

[Anne Gracie]

Sue, hot non-alcoholic apple cider sounds like just the ticket, or some kind of non-alcoholic fruit punch. I've never much liked egg-nog, though maybe I just haven't had a good one.

[Anne Gracie]

It is sad, I agree, Teresa, but I make sure I polish my furniture with beeswax, and so the house smells nice and fragrant -- not of pine, but beeswax or lemon beeswax is pretty yummy.

[Nicola Cornick]

I wrote about a cider wassail in my very first book, True Colours. We lived in Somerset in those days and it was a big festival there and a lot of fun. Thanks for reminding me about the delicious Somerset cider, Anne! Off to drink a toast to my apple tree now!

[Anne Gracie]

I still have a copy of True Colours, Nicola. *g*

[Carolyn C.]

At our local Powell Gardens they have a Wassail celebration each year in their apple orchard followed by a festive dinner. I don't know if it helps the apple crop, but everyone has a good time.

[Anne Gracie]

Carolyn, that sounds like a lot of fun. I wish my local nursery did that. I'd be in it like a shot.