19C England's First Christmas Trees

Queen Charlotte's 1800 Christmas Tree

"Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, is usually credited with having introduced the Christmas tree into England in 1840. However, the honour of establishing this tradition in the United Kingdom rightfully belongs to ‘good Queen Charlotte,’ the German wife of George III, who set up the first known English tree at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor, in December, 1800.

Joshua Reynolds (English artist, 1723–1792) Queen Charlotte, Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1744 - 1818. Queen of George III About 1763

"Legend has it that Queen Charlotte’s fellow countryman, Martin Luther, the religious reformer, invented the Christmas tree. One winter’s night in 1536, so the story goes, Luther was walking through a pine forest near his home in Wittenberg when he suddenly looked up and saw thousands of stars glinting jewel-like among the branches of the trees. This wondrous sight inspired him to set up a candle-lit fir tree in his house that Christmas to remind his children of the starry heavens from whence their Saviour came.

"Certainly by 1605 decorated Christmas trees had made their appearance in Southern Germany. For in that year an anonymous writer recorded how at Yuletide the inhabitants of Strasburg "set up fir trees in the parlours ... and hang thereon roses cut out of many-coloured paper, apples, wafers, gold-foil, sweets, etc." In other parts of Germany box trees or yews were brought indoors at Christmas instead of firs.

"The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) visited Mecklenburg-Strelitz in December, 1798, and was much struck by the yew-branch ceremony that he witnessed there, the following account of which he wrote in a letter to his wife dated April 23rd, 1799: "On the evening before Christmas Day, one of the parlours is lighted up by the children, into which the parents must not go; a great yew bough is fastened on the table at a little distance from the wall, a multitude of little tapers are fixed in the bough ... and coloured paper etc. hangs and flutters from the twigs. Under this bough the children lay out the presents they mean for their parents, still concealing in their pockets what they intend for each other. Then the parents are introduced, and each presents his little gift; they then bring out the remainder one by one from their pockets, and present them with kisses and embraces."

"When young Charlotte left Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761, and came over to England to marry King George, she brought with her many of the customs that she had practised as a child, including the setting up of a yew branch in the house at Christmas. But at the English Court the Queen transformed the essentially private yew-branch ritual of her homeland into a more public celebration that could be enjoyed by her family, their friends and all the members of the Royal Household.

"Queen Charlotte placed her yew bough not in some poky little parlour, but in one of the largest rooms at Kew Palace or Windsor Castle. Assisted by her ladies-in-waiting, she herself dressed the bough. And when all the wax tapers had been lit, the whole Court gathered round and sang carols. The festivity ended with a distribution of gifts from the branch, which included such items as clothes, jewels, plate, toys and sweets.

"These royal yew boughs caused quite a stir among the nobility, who had never seen anything like them before. But it was nothing to the sensation created in 1800, when the first real English Christmas tree appeared at court.

"That year Queen Charlotte planned to hold a large Christmas party for the children of all the principal families in Windsor. And casting about in her mind for a special treat to give the youngsters, she suddenly decided that instead of the customary yew bough, she would pot up an entire yew tree, cover it with baubles and fruit, load it with presents and stand it in the middle of the drawing-room floor at Queen’s Lodge. Such a tree, she considered, would make an enchanting spectacle for the little ones to gaze upon. It certainly did. When the children arrived at the house on the evening of Christmas Day and beheld that magical tree, all aglitter with tinsel and glass, they believed themselves transported straight to fairyland and their happiness knew no bounds.

"Dr John Watkins, one of Queen Charlotte’s biographers, who attended the party, provides us with a vivid description of this captivating tree "from the branches of which hung bunches of sweetmeats, almonds and raisins in papers, fruits and toys, most tastefully arranged; the whole illuminated by small wax candles." He adds that "after the company had walked round and admired the tree, each child obtained a portion of the sweets it bore, together with a toy, and then all returned home quite delighted."

"Christmas trees now became all the rage in English upper-class circles, where they formed the focal point at countless children’s gatherings. As in Germany, any handy evergreen tree might be uprooted for the purpose; yews, box trees, pines or firs. But they were invariably candle-lit, adorned with trinkets and surrounded by piles of presents. Trees placed on table tops usually also had either a Noah’s Ark or a model farm and numerous gaily-painted wooden animals set out among the presents beneath the branches to add extra allurement to the scene. From family archives we learn, for example, that in December 1802, George, 2nd Lord Kenyon, was buying "candles for the tree" that he placed in his drawing room at No. 35 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. That in 1804 Frederick, fifth Earl of Bristol, had "a Christmas tree" for his children at Ickworth Lodge, Suffolk. And that in 1807 William Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of Portland, the then prime minister, set up a Christmas tree at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, "for a juvenile party."

"By the time Queen Charlotte died in 1818, the Christmas-tree tradition was firmly established in society, and it continued to flourish throughout the 1820s and 30s. The fullest description of these early English Yuletide trees is to be found in the diary of Charles Greville, the witty, cultured Clerk of the Privy Council, who in 1829 spent his Christmas holidays at Panshanger, Hertfordshire, home to Peter, 5th Earl Cowper, and his wife Lady Emily.

"Greville’s fellow house guests were Princess Dorothea von Lieven, wife of the German Ambassador, Lord John Russell, Frederick Lamb, M. de la Rochefoucauld and M. de Montrond, all of whom were brilliant conversationalists. Greville makes no mention of any of the bons mots that he must have heard at every meal, however, or of the indoor games and the riding, skating and shooting that always took place at Panshanger at Christmas. No. The only things that really seem to have impressed him were the exquisite little spruce firs that Princess Lieven set up on Christmas Day to amuse the Cowpers’ youngest children William, Charles and Frances. "Three trees in great pots," he tells us, "were put upon a long table covered with pink linen; each tree was illuminated with three circular tiers of coloured wax candles – blue, green, red and white. Before each tree was displayed a quantity of toys, gloves, pocket handkerchiefs, workboxes, books and various other articles – presents made to the owner of the tree. It was very pretty."

"When in December, 1840, Prince Albert imported several spruce firs from his native Coburg, they were no novelty to the aristocracy, therefore. But it was not until periodicals such as the Illustrated London News, Cassell’s Magazine and The Graphic began to depict and minutely to describe the royal Christmas trees every year from 1845 until the late 1850s, that the custom of setting up such trees in their own homes caught on with the masses in England."

See Alison Barnes' in History Today, Volume 56, Issue 12, December, 2006

1769 A Pair of Handmade Ruffles & a Poem for Ben Franklin at Christmas in London

 

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Benjamin Franklin moved to 6 Craven Street in London, a merchant’s house, near the River Thames & not far from the Houses of Parliament, where Franklin lived between 1757 & 1775.  Craven Street was the center of Franklin’s domestic life from the 1st week he arrived in London in 1757 to the day he left in March 1775.

During that time, Franklin spent only 18 months back in Philadelphia. In London, Franklin had a platonic relationship with his landlady, the widow Margaret Stevenson. He was like a father to her daughter Polly. They rapidly became his London family & home-base with Mrs. Stevenson managing the daily household details for him.  

Mary (Polly) Stevenson (1739–1795) was the daughter of Franklin's landlady, Mrs. Margaret Stevenson. Polly’s  devotion to him was a major influence in her life. She had acquired an unusually good education  & by the time Franklin arrived at Craven Street in 1757, she was spending most of her time as companion to an elderly aunt, a Mrs. Tickell, in Wanstead, a village about 10 miles from London, apparently with the belief that the aunt would leave her a comfortable estate. 

In 1770 she married William Hewson, a brilliant young physician & anatomist, who 4 years later died from an infection incurred while dissecting a cadaver. Polly devoted the rest of her life to the care & education of her 2 sons & daughter. 

From 1775, Franklin tried to persuade her to move to America, & in 1784–85 she & the children did visit him in the new nation. Finally in 1786, she brought her family to Philadelphia, & was at Franklin's bedside when he died (1790), 5 years before her own death at her son’s home near Bristol, Pa.

About 170 letters between the bright, spirited woman, & the fatherly philosopher survive. They are full of humor & good will, plus serious science to speculation on marriage & public affairs, & later reports on growing children & grandchildren. 

In 1783 he wrote: “In looking forward,—Twenty-five Years seems a long Period; but in looking back, how short! Could you imagine that ’tis now full a Quarter of a Century since we were first acquainted! It was in 1757. During the greatest Part of the Time I lived in the same House with my dear deceased Friend your Mother; of course you & I saw & convers’d with each other much & often. It is to all our Honours, that in all that time we never had among us the smallest Misunderstanding. Our Friendship has been all clear Sunshine, without any the least Cloud in its Hemisphere.” 

See:

“From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Stevenson, 9 January 1765,” Founders Online, National Archives

The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 12, January 1, through December 31, 1765, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1967, pp. 16–17

 James M. Stifler, “My Dear Girl” The Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin with Polly Stevenson, Georgiana & Catherine Shipley (N.Y., 1927). 

Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., “‘All Clear Sunshine’: New Letters of Franklin & Mary Stevenson Hewson,” APS Proc., c 1956, 521–36, which describes the extent & character of their correspondence.

"For You My Needle With Delight I Plied" In The Words of Women

Eight of Franklin's letters to her appear in his 1769 edition of Experiments & Observations on Electricity. 

8 Winter Solstice Celebrations Around the World

8 Winter Solstice Celebrations Around the World

Since long before recorded history, the winter solstice and the subsequent “return” of the sun have inspired celebrations & rituals in various societies around the world.

History.Com: Sarah Pruitt, a writer & editor in seacoast New Hampshire.

Updated: September 26, 2023 | Original: December 20, 2016

The winter solstice is the shortest day & longest night of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, it takes place in late December; in the Southern Hemisphere, it occurs in June. From Ancient Romans to Indigenous Americans, cultures around the world have long held feasts & celebrated holidays around the winter solstice.

1. Saturnalia

Western culture owes many of the traditional midwinter celebrations—including those of Christmas—to Saturnalia, an ancient Roman solstice celebration dedicated to the Saturn, the god of agriculture & time. Though it started out as a one-day celebration earlier in December, this pagan festival later expanded into a riotous weeklong party stretching from December 17 to 24. During this jolliest & most popular of Roman festivals, social norms fell away as everyone indulged in gambling, drinking, feasting & giving gifts.

2. St. Lucia’s Day  Winter Solstice

This traditional festival of lights in Scandinavia honors St. Lucia, one of the earliest Christian martyrs, but was incorporated with earlier Norse solstice traditions after many Norsemen converted to Christianity around 1000 A.D. According to the old Julian Calendar, December 13 (the date that is traditionally given as the day in 304 A.D. when the Romans killed Lucia for bringing food to persecuted Christians hiding in Rome) was also the shortest day of the year.

As a symbol of light, Lucia & her feast day blended naturally with solstice traditions such as lighting fires to scare away spirits during the longest, darkest night of the year. On St. Lucia’s day, girls in Scandinavia wear white dresses with red sashes & wreaths of candles on their heads, as an homage to the candles Lucia wore on her head to light her way as she carried the forbidden food in her arms.

3. Dong Zhi

The Chinese celebration of the winter solstice, Dong Zhi (which means “Winter Arrives”) welcomes the return of longer days & the corresponding increase in positive energy in the year to come. Occurring only six weeks before the Chinese New Year, the festival has its own significance for many people, & is believed to be the day when everyone gets one year older. The celebration may have begun as a harvest festival, when farmers & fisherman took time off to celebrate with their families.

Today, it isn’t an official holiday, but remains an occasion for families to join together to celebrate the year that has passed & share good wishes for the year to come. The most traditional food for this celebration in southern China is the glutinous rice balls known as tang yuan, often brightly colored & cooked in sweet or savory broth. Northern Chinese enjoy plain or meat-stuffed dumplings, a particularly warming & nourishing food for a midwinter celebration.

Chinese traditional dragon lantern illuminated at night during Chinese / Lunar New Year.

4. Shab-e Yalda

On the longest night of the year, Iranians all over the world celebrate the triumph of Mithra, the Sun God, over darkness in the ancient festival of Shab-e Yalda (which translates to “Night of Birth”). According to tradition, people gather together on the longest night of year to protect each other from evil, burning fires to light their way through the darkness & performing charitable acts. Friends & family join in making wishes, feasting on nuts, pomegranates & other festive foods & reading poetry, especially the work of the 14th-century Persian poet Hafiz. Some stay awake all night to rejoice in the moment when the sun rises, banishing evil & announcing the arrival of goodness.

5. Inti Raymi

In Peru, like the rest of the Southern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is celebrated in June. The Inti Raymi (Quechua for “sun festival”), which takes place on the solstice, is dedicated to honoring Inti, the sun god. Before the Spanish conquest, the Incas fasted for three days before the solstice. Before dawn on the fourth day, they went to a ceremonial plaza & waited for the sunrise.

When it appeared, they crouched down before it, offering golden cups of chicha (a sacred beer made from fermented corn). Animals—including llamas—were sacrificed during the ceremony, & the Incas used a mirror to focus the sun’s rays & kindle a fire. After the conquest, the Spaniards banned the Inti Raymi holiday, but it was revived in the 20th century (with mock sacrifices) & continues today.

6. Shalako 

For the Zuni, one of the Native American Pueblo peoples in western New Mexico, the winter solstice signifies the beginning of the year, & is marked with a ceremonial dance called Shalako. After fasting, prayer & observing the rising & setting of the sun for several days before the solstice, the Pekwin, or “Sun Priest” traditionally announces the exact moment of itiwanna, the rebirth of the sun, with a long, mournful call.

With that signal, the rejoicing & dancing begin, as 12 kachina clowns in elaborate masks dance along with the Shalako themselves—12-foot-high effigies with bird heads, seen as messengers from the gods. After four days of dancing, new dancers are chosen for the following year, & the yearly cycle begins again.

7. Soyal

Like the Zuni, the Hopi of northern Arizona are believed to be among the descendants of the mysterious Anasazi people, ancient Native Americans who flourished beginning in 200 B.C. (As the Anasazi left no written records, we can only speculate about their winter solstice rites, but the placement of stones & structures in their ruins, such as New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, indicate they certainly took a keen interest in the sun’s movement.)

In the Hopi solstice celebration of Soyal, the Sun Chief takes on the duties of the Zuni Pekwin, announcing the setting of the sun on the solstice. An all-night ceremony then begins, including kindling fires, dancing & sometimes gift-giving. Traditionally, the Hopi sun-watcher was not only important to the winter solstice tradition, as his observation of the sun also governed the planting of crops & the observance of Hopi ceremonies & rituals all year long.

8. Toji

In Japan, the winter solstice is less a festival than a traditional practice centered around starting the new year with health & good luck. It’s a particularly sacred time of the year for farmers, who welcome the return of a sun that will nurture their crops after the long, cold winter. People light bonfires to encourage the sun’s return; huge bonfires burn on Mount Fuji each December 22.

A widespread practice during the winter solstice is to take warm baths scented with yuzu, a citrus fruit, which is said to ward off colds & foster good health. Many public baths & hot springs throw yuzu in the water during the winter solstice. Many Japanese people also eat kabocha squash—known in the United States as Japanese pumpkin—on the solstice, as it is thought to bring luck.

1763 Ben Franklin celebrates Christmas with Friends, Nuts, Apples, & Mince Pies

Benjamin Franklin's correspondence gives only a glimpse into his celebration of Christmas. Franklin usually spent Christmas away from his wfe & family.  

He wrote to Isaac Norris in 1763, that he had given,"for customary New Year’s Gifts, and Christmas Presents to Door-keepers and Clerks of the Publick Offices."  

He also noted Christmas Gambols in a letter in 1765, & Christmas dinner in 1766. 

He wrote to his wife that he was spending "the Christmas Holidays" with the friend of a Bishop in 1771; and in a letter to Nathaniel Falconer in 1773, he thanked him for his present of nuts and apples.

Timeline of Judaism/Christian History to Colonial America

Timeline of Judaism/Christian History

Judaism developed among the ancient Hebrews. Judaism is characterized by a belief in one transcendent God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, & the Hebrew prophets & by a religious life in accordance with Scriptures & rabbinic traditions. Judaism is the complex phenomenon of a total way of life for the people, comprising theology, law, & innumerable cultural traditions.  The history of Judaism can be divided into major periods: biblical Judaism (c. 20th–4th century BCE), Hellenistic Judaism (4th century BCE–2nd century CE), Rabbinic Judaism (2nd–18th century CE), and modern Judaism (c. 1750 to the present).

c.2100 BC Calling of Abraham - the Father of the nation.

c.2000 BC Birth of Jacob, Israel. 12 tribes of Israel are named after Jacob's sons.

c.1900 BC Joseph slavery Egypt. Israelites become captives in the land.

c.1446 ?      Exodus begins by Moses, Israelites leave Egypt & settle in Canaan.

c1010 BC David becomes king of Israel, making Jerusalem his capital.

c970 BC David's son Solomon becomes king & builds a temple in Jerusalem..

c930 BC Kingdom is divided into 2 sections: Northern (Israel) & Southern (Judah).

753 BC Traditional date for the founding of Rome.

722 BC Fall of the kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians.

586 BC Babylonians take Jerusalem & destroy  temple. Jews taken to Babylon.

c538 BC Return of some of the exiles. Start of reconstruction of the temple.

c512 BC Completion of the temple.

c330 BC  Conquest by Alexander the Great. Rise of Hellenism (Greek culture).

c.250 BC  Translate the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. 

63 BC Roman rule of Israel begins.

Christianity is a faith tradition that focuses on the figure of Jesus Christ. Christianity is more than a system of religious belief. It has generated a culture, a set of ideas & ways of life, practices, & artifacts that have been handed down from generation to generation, since Jesus first became the object of faith. The agent of Christianity is the church, the community of people who make up the body of believers.

c.4 BC Birth of Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem.

c30 AD Death of Jesus Christ.

c33    Pentecost & the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).

c33 Stephen - First Christian martyr (Acts 7).

c.48 Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). Gentiles included

c.60 First Gospel published (often thought to be that written by Mark).

62 Martyrdom of James, "The Lord's Brother."

c.67-68 Apostles Peter & Paul martyred in the reign of the Roman emperor Nero.

70 Judaism rebellion on Roman empire ends. Destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

Fr 70 Christianity moves to Antioch, Alexandria & Rome.

c.90 Book of Revelation & Gospel of Saint John written.

161-80 Persecution of Christians by Emperors Marcus Aurelius. Decius & Diocletian.

301 Armenia becomes 1st country to adopt Christianity as the state religion.

312 Rome emperor Constantine envisions a flaming cross "By this sign conquer." 

313 Edict of Milan by Constantine - Christianity is religion in the Roman empire.

325 Nicene Creed declares "Begotten, not made; of one being with the Father"

367 Saint Athanasius is the first to list all 27 New Testament books

381 Ecumenical Council at Constantinople revises Nicene creed to current form.

c.382 Saint Jerome begins translating the Bible into Latin.

397 Synod at Carthage ratifies the 27 books of New Testament as sacred.

431 Ecumenical council at Ephesus where Mary is declared "Mother of God"

449 At Ephesus, Pope Leo I defends orthodox belief & claims Papal supremacy.

589 Insertion of  "and the son" into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

597 St. Augustine becomes the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

664 Synod of Whitby ratifies the authority of the Pope in England.

731 Bede writes his Ecclesiastical History.

800      Charlemagne is crowned emperor of Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III.

988 Conversion of Prince Vladimir to Christianity in Russia.

1054 Great Schism - Eastern Orthodox & Western Catholic churches separate.

1095 Pope Urban II orders the 1st Crusade to recover the Holy Land from Moslems.

1099 Crusaders conquer Jerusalem.

1182 Massacre of Latin inhabitants of Constantinople.

1187 Jerusalem recaptured by a Moslem army.

1189 Third Crusade led by Richard the Lionheart of England.

1204 Sack of Constantinople during the 4th crusade.

1216-23 Papal approval of the Dominican & Franciscan orders.

1266-73 Thomas Aquinas writes of systematic Theology: Summa Theologiae.

1305 Papacy moved to Avignon following a dispute with Philip IV of France.

c.1376 John Wycliffe writes for reform of the church.

1378 Return Papacy to Rome, Antipopes emerge. Ends in 1417 with Pope Martin V.

c.1380 John Wycliffe translates the Bible into Middle English.

1453 Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks.

1517 Martin Luther posts 95 Theses in Germany; begins the Protestantism.

1525 William Tyndale completes his translation of the Bible into English.

1534 Ignatius of Loyola founds the Jesuits.

1534 Act of Supremacy passed - Henry VIII becomes head of the English church.

1536 John Calvin publishes his Institutes of the Christian Religion.

1545-63 Council of Trent - Roman Catholic counter reformation.

1549 Book of Common Prayer published  in England (revised in 1662).

1555 Peace of Augsburg ends religious wars in Germany.

1611 Publication of the King James Version of the Bible.

1618-48 Protestant/Catholic conflict in Germany (30 Years War).

1738 John & Charles Wesley form the Methodist church in England

1730-60 The "Great Awakening" - A revival movement among Protestants in the USA.

Christmas Pudding from the Middle Ages

 Presenting the plum pudding

Although the Christmas Pudding took its final form in Victorian England, the origins of Christmas pudding lie back in the middle ages, in the now-forgotten ‘plum pottage’. Pottage was a general term for a mixture of ingredients, usually meat and vegetables, boiled together in a cauldron for several hours. It was very versatile and was a staple of the English diet for many centuries. Plum pottage, the ancestor of the Christmas pudding, generally contained meat, dried fruits, a little sugar, and mixed spices (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger). As with mince pies, the meat was included because many livestock were slaughtered in the autumn due to a lack of fodder in the winter, and cooks had to find a good way of both preserving and serving up the meat. Plum pottage didn’t necessarily contain any plums or prunes; it got its name from the fact that in the Elizabethan era, prunes became so popular that they started to be used to refer to a wide variety of dried fruits.

 Hurrah for the Christmas Pudding 1909

Over the course of the 18th century, pottage and porridge became unfashionable as sophisticated cuisine increasingly took its cues from France. In 1758 Martha Bradley, the author of The British Housewife: or, The Cooke, Housekeeper’s and Gardiner’s Companion said of plum porridge that “the French laugh outrageously at this old English Dish.” Her own recipe for ‘plumb porridge’ sounds very rich; it contains a leg and a shin of beef, white bread, currants, raisins, prunes, mace, cloves, nutmegs, sherry, salt and sugar. As plum pottage died out, the plum pudding rose to take its place. Thanks to cheap sugar from the expanding West Indian slave plantations, plum puddings became sweeter and the savoury element of the dish (meat) became less important. By the Victorian period the only meat product in a Christmas pudding was suet (raw beef or mutton fat). At this point it had really become Christmas pudding as we know it, with the cannonball-shaped pudding of flour, fruits, suet, sugar and spices topped with a sprig of holly, doused in brandy and set alight.

How exactly plum pudding got to be associated with Christmas is the next mystery. The earlier plum pottage was apparently enjoyed at times of celebration, although it was primarily associated with harvest festivities rather than Christmas. There is an unsubstantiated story that in 1714, King George I (sometimes known as the Pudding King) requested that plum pudding be served as part of his first Christmas feast in England. Whether this actually happened or not, was can see that recipe books from the 18th century onwards did start associating plum pudding with Christmas. In 1740, a publication titled Christmas Entertainments included a recipe for plum pudding, which suggests that it was increasingly eaten in a Christmas context. The first known reference to a ‘Christmas pudding’ is, however, not to be found until 1845, in Eliza Acton’s bestselling Modern Cookery for Private Families.

Joseph Clark (1834-1926) A Christmas Dole

At the time when Acton was composing her cookbook, Christmas puddings were traditionally made four or five weeks before Christmas on ‘Stir-up Sunday’. The name, rather amusingly, comes from the collect in the Book of Common Prayer for that Sunday, which reads “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth good works, may by thee be plenteously required; through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Traditionally everyone in the household gave the pudding mixture a stir and made a wish whilst doing so. It was a common practice to include either a threepence or a sixpence in the pudding mixture which could be kept by the person who found it. For children this was a welcome piece of pocket money and for adults it was supposed to bring wealth in the coming year. Other common tokens included a tiny wishbone to bring good luck, a silver thimble for thrift, and an anchor to symbolize safe harbor.

Text only from the very entertaining blog Dance's Historical Miscellany

Christmas in America's Middle Colonies

The early history of the Delaware Valley & William Penn’s inclusive policies created an ethnic & religious mix not found in the other twelve colonies.  Swedes, Germans, French Huguenots, & Welsh among others settled & celebrated their traditions. 

Swedish settlement in the Delaware Valley preceded William Penn, & they remained an important part of the colony. They brought over their pre-Christmas festival of St. Lucia, its saffron bun (Lussekatter) & simple woven decorations. They also decorated with boughs of greens, made pretzels (praying hands) & several cookies that have become American traditions 

There were several religious denominations, found in the middle colonies, which were opposed to the celebration, & continued to exclude themselves, among them the Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, & Congregationalists, at least at first. Eventually, the prosperity of Pennsylvania led even Quaker families to decorate their homes with greens & dine on the bounty of the colonies.

In 1734, Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard’s Almanac, placed between the dates of December 23-29: "If you wou'd have Guests merry with your Cheer / Be so yourself or so at least appear," & for the same time in 1739: "O blessed Season! lov'd by Saints & Sinners / For long Devotions, or for longer Dinners."

Like their English counterparts in the south, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, & Moravians celebrated the traditional Christmas season with both religious & secular observances in cities such as New York & Philadelphia, & the Middle Atlantic colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, & Maryland.

In 1749, Peter Kalm, a Swede visiting Philadelphia, noted in his diary that the Quakers completely dismissed the celebration of Christmas, writing: "Christmas Day. . . .The Quakers did not regard this day any more remarkable than other days. Stores were open, & anyone might sell or purchase what he wanted. . . .There was no more baking of bread for the Christmas festival than for other days; & no Christmas porridge on Christmas Eve! One did not seem to know what it meant to wish anyone a merry Christmas."

He also noted that at “first the Presbyterians did not care much for celebrating Christmas, but when they saw most of their members going to the English church on that day, they also started to have services."

Of Catholic Church he noted: "Nowhere was Christmas Day celebrated with more solemnity than in the Roman Church. Three sermons were preached there, & that which contributed most to the splendor of the ceremony was the beautiful music heard to-day. . . . Pews & altar were decorated with branches of mountain laurel, whose leaves are green in winter time & resemble the (cherry laurel)"

In the Anglican churches, lavender, rose petals, & pungent herbs such as rosemary & bay were scattered throughout the churches, providing a pleasant holiday scent. Scented flowers & herbs, chosen partially because they were aromatic, acted as an alternative form of incense. The Reverend George Herbert, an Anglican clergyman from Maryland, urged "that the church be swept, & kept clean without dust, or cobwebs, & at great festivals strewed, & stuck with boughs, & perfumed with incense."

Robert Herrick 1591-1674 The Christmas Wassail Bowl

The Wassail Bowl an excerpt from "Ah, Posthumus!"

Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Next I'll cause my hopeful lad,
If a wild apple can be had,
To crown the hearth;
Lar thus conspiring with our mirth;
Then to infuse
Our browner ale into the cruse;
Which, sweetly spiced, we'll first carouse
Unto the Genius of the house.

Then the next health to friends of mine.
Loving the brave Burgundian wine,
High sons of pith,
Whose fortunes I have frolick'd with;
Such as could well
Bear up the magic bough and spell;
And dancing 'bout the mystic Thyrse,
Give up the just applause to verse;

To those, and then again to thee,
We'll drink, my Wickes, until we be
Plump as the cherry,
Though not so fresh, yet full as merry
As the cricket,
The untamed heifer, or the pricket,1
Until our tongues shall tell our ears,
We're younger by a score of years.

Thus, till we see the fire less shine
From th' embers than the kitling's eyne,
We'll still sit up,
Sphering about the wassail cup,
To all those times
Which gave me honour for my rhymes;
The coal once spent, we'll then to bed,
Far more than night bewearied.

Christmas Wassail to Promote Good Health of Britain's Trees & Crops & Animals

1861 'Wassailing apple-trees with hot cider in Devonshire on twelfth eve'

Wassailing Orchards & Crops & Livestock

Now I imagine that only a garden historian would post this particular history. But here goes...

It is difficult to tell when "wassailing" orchards in the Christmas season first began, wishing the trees health and abundant crops in the coming year. Soon hopeful farmers wassailed both crops and animals to encourage fertility. An observer recorded, "They go into the Ox-house to the oxen with the Wassell-bowle and drink to their health."

In the 18C, farmers in the west of Britain toasted the good health of apple trees to promote an abundant crop the next year. Some placed cider-soaked bread in the branches to ward off evil spirits. Others splashed the trees with cider while firing guns or beating pots and pans. Sometimes they sang special songs:
Let every man take off his hat
And shout out to th'old apple tree
Old apple tree we wassail thee
And hoping thou will bear.

It was recorded at Fordwich, Kent, in 1585, and appears in Devon in the 1630s, according to the poem by Robert Herrick:
Wassail the Trees, that they may bear
You many a plum, and many a pear...In the west of Britain the good health of the apple trees was toasted on Twelfth Night. The luck of next year's crop of cider apples was wished. Bread soaked in cider was put into the branches of trees to keep evil spirits away. Ritual songs were sung. It was reported thatcelebrants poured the remains of the cider kegs around trees in an orchard, dancing and singing the Wassailing song to ensure a good crop of apples for the following year.

It appears to feature again in the diary of a Sussex parson in 1670 and is quite frequently recorded thereafter. The fact that traces of it are found in fruit-growing areas of England under Elizabeth and the Stuarts argues for an origin at latest in the early Tudor or medieval periods. Modern guides to English folk-customs have frequently described it as a relic of pre-Christian ritual, and so indeed it may be. It may , nevertheless, also be an extension of the custom of the household wassail, made after the end of the Middle Ages.

In The Book of Days, Chambers describes a celebration on the eve of Epiphany, January 12: "In Herefordshire, at the approach of the evening, the farmers with their friends and servants meet together, and about six o’ clock walk out to a field where wheat is growing. In the highest part of the ground, twelve small fires, and one large one, are lighted up. The attendants, headed by the master of the family, pledge the company in old cider, which circulates freely on these occasions. A circle is formed round the large fire, when a general shout and hallooing takes place, which you hear answered from all the adjacent villages and fields. Sometimes fifty or sixty of these fires may be seen all at once. This being finished, the company return home, where the good housewife and her maids are preparing a good supper. A large cake is always provided, with a hole, in the middle. After supper, the company all attend the bailiff (or head of the oxen) to the wain-house, where the following particulars are observe: The master at the head of his friends, fills the cup (generally of strong ale), and stands opposite the first or finest of the oxen. He then pledges him in a curious toast: the company follow his example, with all the other oxen, and addressing each by his name. This being finished, the large cake is produced, and, with much ceremony, put on the horn of the first ox, through the hole above mentioned. The ox is then tickled, to make him toss his head: if he throw the cake behind, then it is the mistress’s prerequisite; if before (in what is termed the boosy), the bailiff himself claims the prize. The company then return to the house, the doors of which they find locked, nor will they be opened till some joyous songs are sung. On their gaining admittance, a scene of mirth, and jollity ensues, which lasts the greatest part of the night."—

The custom is called in Herefordshire Wassailing. The fires are designed to represent the Saviour and his apostles, and it was customary as to one of them, held as representing Juas Iscariot, to allow it go burn a while and then put it out and kick about the materials.Gentleman’s Magazine, February, 1791.

At Pauntley, in Gloucestershire, the custom has in view of the prevention of the smut in wheat "all the servants of every farmer assemble in one of the fields that has been sown with wheat. At the end of twelve lands, they make twelve fires in a row with straw: around one of which, made larger than the rest, they drink a cheerful glass of cider to their master’s health, and success to the future harvest; then returning home they feast on cakes made with carraways, soaked in cider which they claim as a reward for their past labour in sowing the grain"- Rudge’s Gloucester.

Wassail Song
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

We are not daily beggers
That beg from door to door,
But we are neighbors’ children
Whom you have seen before
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Good master and good mistress,
As you sit beside the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who wander in the mire.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year

We have a little purse
Made of ratching leather skin;
We want some of your small change
To line it well within.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Bring us out a table
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a cheese,
And of your Christmas loaf.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too;
And all the little children
That round the table go.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Christmas Before Colonial British America - Tradition of Wassail

William Hogarth (1697-1764) 'The Midnight Conversation', Detail. c 1732

"Wassail" appears in English literature as a salute as early as the 8C poem Beowulf, in references such as "warriors' wassail and words of power" and:
The rider sleepeth,
the hero, far-hidden; no harp resounds,
in the courts no wassail, as once was heard.

An anonymous Anglo-Norman Poet, who witnessed the Saxon toasting cry before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, wrote:
Rejoice and wassail
Pass the bottle and drink healthy
Drink backwards and drink to me
Drink half and drink empty.

In Saxon times the original Wassail was was a greeting meaning: "be in good health." In 12C, it became a toast, the response to the toast became drink hail, or "drink good health." Norman conquerors who arrived in the 11C regarded the toast as distinctive of the English natives.

A story told in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, written in 1135, purports to explain the origin of the toast:
The story of toasting 'wassail' begins when Renwein presented King Vortigern with a cup of wine and the salute 'Was hail.'
The story of toasting "wassail" begins when Renwein presented King Vortigern with a cup of wine and the salute "Was hail."
While Vortigern was being entertained at a royal banquet, the girl Renwein came out of an inner room carrying a golden goblet full of wine. She walked up to the King, curtsied low, and said "Lavert King, was hail!" When he saw the girl's face, Vortigern was greatly struck by her beauty and was filled with desire for her. He asked his interpreter what it was that the girl had said and what he ought to reply to her. "She called you Lord King and did you honour by drinking your health. What you should reply is 'drinc hail.'" Vortigern immediately said the words "drinc hail" and ordered Renwein to drink. Then he took the goblet from her hand, kissed her and drank in his turn.

Ronald Hutton in his The Rise and Fall of Merry England. Oxford, 1996, reports:"A 14Ctext by Peterd e Langtoft describes in detail the custom involving this vessel, to which the Tudor sources only refer in passing: the leader of a gathering took it and cried "Wassail" Old English for "your health". He was answered "Drink hail," and then passed it to another person with a kiss, so that these actions could be repeated by each. At the early Tudor court it was accompanied into the king's presence by the chief officers of the household, bearing staves. In great families it was made of precious metal- Edmund earl of March, leaving a silver one upon his death in 1382."

Wooden Lignum Vitae Wassail Bowl Owned by Arthur Chichester, Brought from Devon to Ulster in 1599

"The bowl is first mentioned by Matthew Paris in the 13C, as one in which cakes and fine white bread were communally dipped."

"Near the end of the 13C, Robert of Gloucester retold the legend of the marriage of the British king Vortigern with the Saxon princess Rowena, making the latter drink to the former with the words "waes heal."

"When Peter de Lantoft repeated the story in the 1320s, he portrayed people drinking alternately from the same cup with the exchange "wassaille" and "drinkhaille", exactly as in Tudor England. This sequence raises the possibility that the exchange became customary around 1300, but this, again cannot be proved."

English Lead Glazed Earthenware Wassail Bowl from Wilshire Dated 14-12-1682

On the introduction of Christianity, the custom of wassailing was not abolished, but it assumed a religious aspect. The monks called the wassail bowl the poculum caritatis (loving cup), a term still retained in the London companies, but in the universities the term Grace Cup is more general. Immediately after grace the silver cup, filled with sack (spiced wine) is passed round. The master and wardens drink welcome to their guests; the cup is then passed round to all the guests. A loving or grace cup should always have two handles, and some have as many as four. Loving Cup. This ceremony, of drinking from one cup and passing it round, was observed in the Jewish paschal supper, and our Lord refers to the custom in the words, “Drink ye all of it.”“He [the master of the house] laid hold of the yesset with both hands, lifted it up, and said- Blessed be Thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast given us the fruit of the vine; and the whole assembly said `Amen.' Then drinking first himself from the cup, he passed it round to the rest."

FromEldad the Pilgrim, chap. ix."

 

English Wooden Lignum Vitae Wassail Bowl and Cover Late 17C

On the Twelfth Day, January 8, & Wassail from Le Neve,The Royalle Book, Henry VII: "As for the void on the Twelfth Night, the king and the queen ought to have it in the hall. And as for the wassail, the steward, the treasurer, and the controller, shall come for it with their staves in their hands; the king's server and the queen's having fair towels about their necks, and dishes in their hands, such as the king and queen shall eat of; the king's carvers and the queen's shall come after with chargers or dishes, such as the king or queen shall eat of, and with towels about their necks. And no man shall bear anything unless sworn for three months. And the steward, treasurer, comptroller, and marshall of the hall shall ordain for all the hall. And, if it be in the great chamber, then shall the chamberlain and ushers ordain, after the above form; and if there be a bishop, his own squire, or else the king's such as the officers choose to assign shall serve him; and so of all the other estates, if they be dukes or earls; and so of duchesses and countesses. And then there must come in the ushers of the chamber, with the pile of cups, the king's cups and the queen's and the bishop's with the butlers and wine to the cupboard, and then a squire for the body to bear the cup, and another for the queen's cup such as is sworn for hire. The singers (of the chapel) may stand at one side of the hall, and when the steward cometh in at the hall-door, with the wassail, he must cry thrice "Wassail," &c, and then shall the chapel answer it aon with a good song, and thus in likewise, if it pleased the king to keep the great chamber. And when the king and queen have done, they will go into the chamber. And there belongeth for the king, two lights with the void, and two lights with the cup; and for the queen as many."

English Lead Glazed Earthenware Wassail Bowl from Wilshire Dated 14-12-1682

Lead Glazed Earthenware Wassail Bowl & Cover from Wiltshire Dated 1702

The Wassail Cup Scottish 1871

Wooden Lignum Vitae Wassail Bowl Dated 1685

English Silver Mounted Lignum Vitae Wassail Bowl c. 1720

1759 George Washington's Christmas Gifts for his 2 new Stepchildren

The Colonial Williamsburg website notes that  George Washington's Christmas list for his young stepchildren was ambitious: in 1759, when Washington gave the following presents to his new wife's young children: "a bird on Bellows; a Cuckoo; a Turnabout Parrot; a Grocers Shop; an Aviary; a Prussian Dragoon; a Man Smoking; a Tunbridge Tea Set; 3 Neat Books, a Tea Chest. A straw parchment box with a glass & a neat dress'd wax baby."

At the time they married, Martha Dandridge Custis was only 27 years old, owned nearly 300 enslaved people, & had more than 17,500 acres of land— worth more than £40,000. At the end of 1758, Washington resigned his military commission. On January 6, 1759, Martha Dandridge Custis married George Washington at her home, White House, in New Kent County.

When she married George Washington, Martha had 2 surving children with Daniel Parke Custis: John Parke Custis (“Jacky”), who was born in 1754, & Martha Parke Custis (“Patsy”), born in 1756.

 John Parke Custis, known as "Jacky" when younger & "Jack" as he got older, was around 4 years old, when his mother Martha married George Washington. As a result, George Washington became Jacky's legal guardian. On February 3, 1774, Custis & Eleanor Calvert, the fifteen-year-old daughter of a prominent Maryland family. were married. Jack & Nelly lived at Abingdon Plantation & had 7 children, 4 of whom would survive, over the next 7 years. On November 5, 1781, just weeks before he turned 27, John Parke Custis, Martha’s sole remaining child, contracted a fever & died.

Martha Parke Custis was Martha Washington & Daniel Parke Custis's youngest child. Known to the family as Patsy, she was only a toddler, when her mother married George Washington. By the time Patsy was 11 or 12, she was plagued with seizures, which grew worse over time. After a particularly violent episode on June 19, 1773, Patsy died at age 17. In his diary, George Washington wrote simply on June 19th, 1773: "At home all day. About 5 oclock poor Patcy Custis Died Suddenly." In a letter to his brother-in-law written the following day, George Washington relayed the news that Patsy, described as his "Sweet Innocent Girl," had been buried earlier in the day & that the situation had "almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of Misery."

See:

George Washington to Burwell Bassett, 20 June 1773," The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, Vol. 9, eds. W.W. Abbot & Dorothy Twohig (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1994), 243-244. Eliza Custis, "Self-Portrait: Eliza Custis 1808," Virginia Magazine of History & Biography 53, ed. William D. Hoyt, Jr. (1945): 92. "Nelly Custis Lewis to Jared Sparks, 26 February 1833," ed. Jared Sparks, The Life of George Washington (Boston: Published by Ferdinand Andrews, 1839), 522.

"George Washington to Burwell Bassett, 20 June 1773," The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, Vol. 9, 243-4.

Wilstach, Paul. Mount Vernon: Washington's Home & the Nation's Shrine. 1916.

1779 Absent John Jay's Christmas Letter from his Lonely Wife Sarah (1756-1802)

 

Sarah "Sally" Van Brugh Livingston Jay (1756-1802)

Sarah "Sally" Van Brugh Livingston Jay (1756-1802) & her politically ambitious patriot husband John Jay (1745-1829) were apart during the holiday season of 1778-1779. John would be in Philadelphia serving in the Continental Congress, & Sarah in New Jersey with their son Peter Augustus. 

Sally was depressed by the absence of her husband. However, in a letter, she dutifully assured him that “The company of your dear little boy proved a great consolation to me since you’ve been absent.” She ended her letter to him: “Accept the Compts: of the season,” the lovely expression typical of the time, adding to it “& may we repeat the same to each other fifty years hence.” 

Christmas was not widely celebrated in the colonies. Its observance was generally prohibited in New England by Calvinists & other Protestant sects, & by the Quakers in Philadelphia & elsewhere. On the other hand, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans & Moravians in the Middle Colonies & the South did celebrate the Christmas season with both religious services & secular festivities. 

1794 John Jay by Gilbert Stuart, National Gallery of Art

Sarah "Sally" Jay was an American socialite & young wife of founding father John Jay, in which capacity she came to serve as the wife of the President of the Continental Congress, the wife of the Chief Justice of the United States, & First Lady of New York.

Sarah was born in 1756. She was the eldest daughter of wealthy landowner William Livingston (1723–1790) & Susannah French (1723–1789).  Her father was an attorney who was a signer of the United States Constitution & later served as the 1st post-colonial Governor of New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War from 1776, until his death in 1790.

At the age of 18 in 1774, Sarah married John Jay (1745–1829), a member of a prominent merchant family in New York City. He was one of 7 surviving children born to Peter Jay & Mary Van Cortlandt, the daughter of mayor Jacobus Van Cortlandt. 

Following her wedding to Jay in 1774, she spent the early years of their marriage at her father's house in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Her husband would visit her there, when he was not serving as a state official in New York. 

In 1779, he was appointed commissioner to Spain & Sarah finally joined him, moving abroad. In France, she would plan & host the Americans' celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, albeit in absentia, because she had only just given birth (in Benjamin Franklin's house) when the event took place. Participating in Parisian society was part of Franklin's strategy for tightening the bonds of French-American relations.

Sarah Livingston Jay with 2 of her Children by James Sharples (c. 1751-1811)

Together, John & Sarah Jay had 6 children:

Peter Augustus Jay, who was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1776

Susan Jay, who was born & died in Madrid in 1780

Maria Jay, who was born in Madrid in 1782

Ann Jay, who was born in Paris in 1783

William Jay, who was born in New York City in 1789

Sarah Jay, who was born in New York City in 1792.

In 1801, John Jay & Sarah Livingston Jay moved to a farm near Bedford, New York, where Sarah soon died in 1802. 

 See: Louise North, Janet Wedge, & Landa Freeman. Selected Letters of John Jay & Sarah Livingston Jay

1774 Christmas Celebrations in Alexandria, Virginia

 Nicholas Cresswell (1750-1804) by an unidentified artist, c 1780.  Cresswell was the son of a landowner & sheep farmer in Edale, Derbyshire. At the age of 24, he sailed to the American colonies to visit a native of Edale who was then living in Alexandria, Virginia. For the next 3 years he kept a journal of his experiences, before returning to England.  Cresswell wrote while in Alexandria on December 25, 1774: “Christmas Day but little regarded here.”

However Cresswell did attend a lively ball on Twelfth Night; "There was about 37 Ladys Dressed and Powdered to the like, some of them very handsom, and as much Vanity as is necessary. All of them fond of Dancing. But I do not think they perform it with the greatest elleganse. Betwixt the Country Dances they have What I call everlasting Jiggs. A Couple gets up, and begins to dance a Jig (to some Negro tune) others comes and cuts them out, these dances allways last as long as the Fiddler can play. This is social but I think it looks more like a Bacchanalian dance then one in a polite Assembly. Old Women, Young Wifes with young Children on the Laps, Widows, Maids, and Girls come promsciously to these Assemblys which generally continue til morning. A Cold supper, Punch, Wine, Coffee, and Chocolate, But no Tea. This is a forbidden herb. The men chiefly Scotch and Irish. I went home about Two Oclock, but part of the Company stayd got Drunk and had a fight."

1702 Christmas School Pranks at William & Mary in Virginia

Rev James Blair (ca. 1655–1743) probably painted by Charles Bridges

By 1702, Christmas pranking had become popular in Virginia. The Reverend James Blair, founder of the College of William and Mary, was awakened about midnight 2 weeks before Christmas 1702, by the sound of "great nails," as he called them, being pounded in "to fasten and barricade the doors of the Grammar School."  

An English schoolboy custom of "barring out" the teachers, a ceremonial lockout that signaled the start of a month of Christmas games & celebration.  The hammering surprised Blair, he said, because that very custom had been outlawed at the school years earlier.  

As Blair was forcing his way inside the school, he wrote that "the students fired off 3 or 4 Pistols & hurt one of my servants in the eye with a wadd as I suppose of one of the Pistols, while I press'd forward, some of the boys, having a great kindness for me, call'd out "for God's sake sir don't offer to come in, for we have shot, & shall certainly fire at any one that first enters."

Christmas Wassail - Ben Franklin's favorite Punch Recipe

In the British American colonies, even Benjamin Franklin had a favorite punch recipe. Franklin included the recipe in a letter to his friend James Bowdoin, on October 11, 1763. "To make Milk Punch. Take 6 quarts of Brandy, and the Rinds of 44 Lemons pared very thin; Steep the Rinds in Brandy 24 Hours, then strain it off. Put to it 4 Quarts of Water, 4 Large Nutmegs grated, 2 Quarts of Lemon Juice, 2 pounds of double refined Sugar. When the Sugar is dissolv’d boil 3 Quarts of Milk and put to the rest hot as you take it off the Fire, and stir it about. Let it stand 2 Hours; then run it thro’ a Jelly-bag til it is clear; then bottle it off."

Wassailing is a Christmas tradition that has been practiced in Britain for centuries. It has its roots in a wintertime pagan custom of visiting orchards to sing to the trees & spirits in the hope of ensuring a good harvest the following season. During the orchard visit, a communal wassail bowl – filled with a warm spiced cider, perry or ale – would be shared amongst revelers.

The carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" & Shakespeare’s "Twelfth Night" offer clues to some of the ways people celebrated Christmas in the past. Advent, a time of fasting, was observed from the 1st to the 24th of December. Christmas would then last 12 days, ending with lots of feasting & drinking  on the 5th of January – the eve of Epiphany in the Christian calendar – with wassailing a key part of the celebrations.  

The word Wassail expanded from being a greeting to be a term used to refer to the punch drink related to the toast. Party-goers typically visited local orchards & fruit trees, sang songs, raised a ruckus (often by banging pots & pans. 

The word "wassail" is thought to be derived from the Old English "was hál", meaning "be hale" or "good health." Clebrants were wishing both the trees & their owners Good Health. Visitors were often rewarded by the orchard’s grateful owner with some form of warm, spiced alcoholic beverage from a communal "wassail" bowl or cup. Sometimes a topping of one of the longed-for apple, known as "lamb's wool," would be added.  

Early Wassail reportedly resembled the ancient Roman drink hypocras, which survived into the early Middle Ages as a libation for the wealthy. The necessity of importing the wine plus ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg from outside England made it costly.

When ales & cider replaced the wine, more people could afford it, and recipes varied according to the means of each family. Though usually prepared for immediate consumption, wassail sometimes was bottled to ferment.

The Wassail Bowl was sometimes composed of ale instead of wine - with nutmeg, sugar, toast, ginger, and roasted crabs ; in this way the nut-brown beverage is still prepared in some old families, and round the hearths of substantial farmers at Christmas. It is also called Lambs Wool, and is celebrated by Herrick in his “Twelfth Night:”

“Next crowne the bowle full
With gentle Lambs Wool,
Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too ;
And thus ye must doe
To make the Wassaile a swinger.”

In Lamb's Wool, ale or dark beer was whipped to form a surface froth in which floated roasted crab apples. The hissing pulp bursting from them resembled wool. Shakespeare alluded to Lamb's Wool in Midsummer Night's Dream:
Sometimes lurk I in the gossip's bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And down her withered dewlap pours the ale.
Likewise in Love's Labour's Lost:
When all aloud the wind doth blow
And coughing drowns the parson's saw
And birds sit brooding in the snow
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit,
Tu-who—a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Some report that at the bottom of some Wassail bowls was a crust of bread, that particular drink was offered to the most important person in the room & then passed around. This was the origin of a "toast" which survives to this day as part of the drinking ritual.