Wassailing was a traditional Twelfth Night activity where people would go from door to door and exchange songs fro food and drink.
"In the Middle Ages wassail was a drinking toast that literally meant 'Be in good health'. The polite reply was drinkhail, 'Drink good health'. Both words come from Old Norse, and were probably introduced by Danish-speaking inhabitants of England." from Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 2021.
"Gwyl Fair y Canhwyllau or Candlemas (held on 2 February) was another occasion when a party of male singers gathered outside a house and a ritual poetic contest followed. After the singers gained the right to enter, the wassail bowl was passed in order to pledge the health of the Virgin Mary and Child, represented during the ritual by a young girl seated in the centre of the room. This was followed by entertainment with riddles and feat songs, which included singing tongue-twisting words, remembering the greatest number of verses or performing cumulative songs. The ritual appears to have died out after the 18th century but some feat songs have remained popular, such as Cyfri'r geifi ('Counting the Goats')."
Lewis, G., Davies, L., & Kinney, P. (2001). Wales. Grove Music Online. Retrieved 29 Nov. 2023, from https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1kas1sp/TN_cdi_oup_grovemusic_10_1093_gmo_9781561592630_article_41108
Holiday Wassail recipe from Ebony Magazine Dec 2004, pg 101, freely available from Google books
Wassail bowl image: 88. A Welsh Wassail-Bowl: With a Note on the Mari Lwyd. Iorwerth C. Peate
Man, Vol. 35 (Jun., 1935), pp. 81-82 (3 pages)
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