Wassailing

The house-visiting wassail, which traditionally occurs on the twelfth day of Christmastide known as Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve (January 5), is the practice of people going door-to-door, singing and offering a drink from the wassail bowl in exchange for gifts; this practice still exists, but has largely been displaced by carol singing.

[2][3] The orchard-visiting wassail refers to the custom of visiting orchards in cider-producing regions of England and singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year.

[2][7] In the liturgical kalendars of Western Christianity, including those of the Lutheran, Anglican and Roman Catholic denominations, Twelfth Night falls on January 5.

[10][11] In the Middle Ages, the wassail was a reciprocal exchange between the feudal lords and their peasants as a form of recipient-initiated charitable giving, to be distinguished from begging.

[13] In Dartmoor today, the Ashburton and Moorland Mission Community gathers in the barn at Newcombe Farm to sing Wassailing songs and pray for God’s blessing on the New Year.

Wassailing was associated with rowdy bands of young men who would enter the homes of wealthy neighbours and demand free food and drink (in a manner similar to the modern children's Halloween practice of trick-or-treating).

[16] In the cider-producing West of England (primarily the counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire) wassailing also refers to drinking (and singing) the health of trees in the hopes that they might better thrive.

Wassailing is also a traditional event in Jersey, Channel Islands where cider (cidre) made up the bulk of the economy before the 20th century.

The purpose of wassailing is to awake the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in autumn.

In the context of Christian observance, wassailing involves pronouncing a blessing on a tree so that it will bear fruit, often through the singing of a hymn.