In recent years, I’ve heard more about Twelfth Night celebrations. Growing up in Oklahoma, I never remember hearing the term and I honestly don’t remember much about the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” other than the song and I never understood the song when I was young.
But, anyway, today, or night, is the “Twelfth Night.” In the “olden” days, the festivities of Christmas lasted twelve days, which was, supposedly, the time it took the three wise men or kings to make their journey to Bethlehem.
The final evening (January 5) was called the Twelfth Night and marked the end of Christmas festivities. In ancient Celtic traditions, it marked the end of the 12-day winter solstice celebration.
(On the church calendar, Twelfth Night is the evening before Epiphany (January 6) when the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. Epiphany is also called Three Kings Day.)
In the old Twelfth Night celebrations it was customary for the assembled company to toast each other from the wassail bowl. You may have heard the carol/song “Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green.”
So what exactly is wassailing?
Wassailing was once a major part of Christmas celebrations. The term wassail comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase “waes hael” which means “good health.” It was a greeting to which one responded “drinc hael,” or “drink and good health.”
Somewhere along the line, this greeting morphed into a drinking salute and spread across England. So wassail was originally a greeting — not a drink. How did wassailing become a drink, or drinking activity? Actually, no one knows for sure…. one story is that in Anglo-Saxon times English farmers performed a ritual that became the forerunner to wassailing. During long winter months, they would gather in their orchards and pour cider over the leafless trees. Supposedly, the cider protected the trees from evil spirits, ensuring they produced an abundance of fruit at the next harvest. As England became a Christianized nation, farmers began “wassailing” on the Twelfth Night of Christmas, asking the infant Christ to bless the trees and grant them good fruit.
Wassailing eventually became the practice of going door-to-door with bowls of wassail and singing. This tradition originated with peasants who would gather outside their lord’s house every winter. The lord would come out with a bowl of spiced wine and cry out, “wassail!!” The peasants would reply “drink hail,” and then proceed to the drinking.
By the nineteenth century, wassailing became more of a domestic event… families would gather around the wassail bowl to toast the holiday season with Christmas cheer.
So if you’re referring to wassail as a drink, what’s in it? Long ago, it was usually mulled wine, and that remained popular over the centuries. Eventually, it evolved to a punch or ale or cider, often spiked with rum or sherry. Wassail was traditionally served in massive bowls. The rich often had big silver basins that were brought out for the special occasion every year.
I read that in England, there is a group planning the rival of wassailing — the group is called The Campaign for the Revival Of Wassailing (CROW.) They are passionate about reviving the tradition. The group says wassailing creates an atmosphere where we can make amends, end hostilities, forgive insults, heal wounds and let bygones be bygones. It creates an atmosphere where we can make new friends, especially between old and young and between the sexes. It creates a better working relationship and feelings of unity, of all being as one.
This sounds like an organization I’d like to join — seems like something the world could use about now.
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