05/01/2026
Waes Hael...
Wæs hæl, drink æl! 🍻🍎
“Wassail” comes from the Old English wæs hæl,
“be in good health.”
Wassailing is a very old English custom, still practised in parts of the country, tied to midwinter, hospitality, and the hope of a good year to come. It takes place during the Twelve Days of Christmas and traditionally falls into two kinds of work.
There isn’t a single “proper” night for wassailing, there’s a right night for the kind of wassailing you’re doing. If it’s songs, fire, shared drink, and warding off the dark. Twelfth Night (5th January)
If it’s calling the apple trees awake, honouring the old year and the next harvest Old Twelfth Night (17th January)
Housewassailing involved going door to door with song, sharing spiced ale, and exchanging good wishes, a ritual of community, generosity, and luck.
Orchard wassailing is the better known form today. Here, apple trees are sung to and honoured, cider is poured onto their roots, and toast is placed in the branches, a way of waking the trees, driving off ill fortune, and encouraging the coming harvest.
It isn’t so much about named spirits, but about treating the land as alive, attentive, and deserving of care and acknowledgement.
Wæs hæl, and be in good health. 🍎🍻
Artist: Hedingham Fair
