Wassail

Wassail (Old Norse "ves heil", Old English was hál, literally 'be you healthy') is a beverage of hot mulled cider, traditionally drunk as an integral part of wassailing, a Medieval German drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year. The name comes from the salute 'Waes Hail', first used as a simple greeting. The later Danish-speaking inhabitants of England seem to have turned "was hail", and the reply "drink hail", into a drinking formula adopted widely by the indigenous population of England.

Beverage

Wassail is a hot, mulled punch often associated with Yuletide drunk from a 'wassailing bowl'. The earliest versions were warmed mead - ale brewed with honey - into which roasted crab apples were dropped and burst to create a drink called 'lambswool' drunk on Lammas day, still known in Shakespeare's time. Later, the drink evolved to become a mulled cider made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, topped with slices of toast as sops and drunk from a large communal bowl. Modern recipes begin with a base of wine, fruit juice or mulled ale, sometimes with brandy or sherry added, apples or oranges are often added to the mix and some recipes also call for beaten eggs to be tempered into the drink. Great bowls turned from wood, pottery or tin often had many handles for shared drinking and highly decorated lids; antique examples can still be found in traditional pubs. Hence the first stanza of the traditional carol the Gloucestershire Wassail dating back to the Middle Ages