Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 16 · Old English Folk Carols · Page 30 in print
Wassail Songs
William Henry Husk printed Here We Come A-Wassailing from a broadside issued at Bradford in Yorkshire and took it as a sign that wassailing still survived in the West Riding.
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The words
Bradford
Yorkshire town where a broadside of Here We Come A-Wassailing was printed.
Carhampton
Somerset village known for its Old Twelfth Night orchard wassail.
Cider
The drink poured on apple-tree roots at orchard wassails.
Crab Apples
Roasted crab apples floated in the wassail bowl.
Dobbin
The horse toasted in the Gloucestershire wassail.
Gloucester
City near which the Gloucestershire wassail was sung.
Herrick
Robert Herrick, whose 1648 poem urges wassailing the trees.
Lamb's Wool
The spiced ale drink once served in the wassail bowl.
Loving Cup
The shared cup of civic banquets that keeps the wassail custom.
Minsterworth
Village whose wassailers sang at Over in 1864.
Nutmeg
A spice of the wassail bowl.
Robin
The bird for which cider-soaked toast is left in the branches.
Samuel Lysons
Antiquary who sent the Gloucestershire wassail to Brand.
Severn
River along whose villages wassailers went house to house.
Wassail
The old drinking salute and the house-to-house custom built on it.
Sources
- William Henry Husk (ed.), Songs of the Nativity (London: John Camden Hotten); Internet Archive scan (UCLA), catalogue date [1884?]Internet Archive
- English Folk Dance and Song Society, Beginners’ Guide to British Folk Customs: ‘Wassailing Apple Trees’efdss.org
- Robert Herrick, Hesperides (London, 1648), ed. A. W. Pollard; Project Gutenberg eBook #22421Project Gutenberg