Wassail: The Drink, the Orchard Blessing and a Recipe for Yule
Wassail is one of those words that has drifted. Today it mostly means a pot of hot spiced cider on the stove in December. For most of its history it meant a toast, then a bowl passed around a room, then a group of people going door to door with that bowl, and, in the cider counties of south-west England, a winter night spent in the orchard shouting at the apple trees. All four are still alive somewhere, and all four fit comfortably into a Yule season.
Below: the word, the drink, the orchard rite, and a recipe easy enough for a weeknight.
Where the word comes from
Wassail comes from the Old English greeting waes hael, usually translated as "be well" or "be in good health". The answer to it was drinc hael, "drink well". It was a toast before it was a drink: you raised the cup, wished someone health, and drank. By the later medieval period the word had attached itself to the drink in the bowl and to the bowl itself, and wassailing is documented in England from at least that time.
It is often suggested that the custom is older still, a survival of some pre-Christian midwinter rite. That may be so, but it is not proven, and the written record does not reach back far enough to settle it. What can be said is that it belongs to the same cluster of northern European midwinter habits as the Yule log, the evergreen and the feast, which our piece on whether Christmas is pagan goes through one by one.
The drink
For the house that blesses its trees
Early wassail was usually hot ale or mead, sweetened and spiced, sometimes with roasted apples floating in it. One version, called lamb's wool, was named for the pale froth the apples made as they burst in the hot ale. Wine was used in wealthier houses, cider in apple country. Toast was dropped into the bowl, which is probably where the drinking toast gets its name. Modern wassail in the United States is almost always hot spiced apple cider, sometimes with a splash of something stronger, and that is the version below.
Wassailing from house to house
The second kind of wassailing was a visit. Groups went from door to door through the twelve days of Christmas carrying an empty bowl and singing for a fill: a drink, some food, a coin. The songs were half blessing and half polite threat, wishing the household health and a good harvest while making clear the singers would like to come in out of the cold. The carol Here We Come a-Wassailing, printed in the nineteenth century, is the one most people know.
Wassailing the orchard
The third kind is the one that has made a real comeback. In the cider counties of south-west England, Somerset, Devon and Herefordshire among them, people go out to the orchard on Twelfth Night, 5 or 6 January depending on how the twelve days are counted, or on Old Twelfth Night, 17 January, which is where the date fell before England changed calendars in 1752.
What happens
The details vary by village, but the shape is consistent. A fire or lanterns. A song to the oldest tree in the orchard. Pieces of toast soaked in cider are hung in the branches, traditionally as a gift for the robins, which are said to be the good spirits of the trees. Cider is poured over the roots. Then everyone makes as much noise as possible, banging pots, blowing horns, and in some places firing shotguns through the branches, to wake the trees and drive off anything that might spoil the crop. Then the cider goes round.
Why it matters to a modern pagan
Orchard wassailing is gratitude made physical. You feed the thing that feeds you, in the dead of winter, before it has given you anything. It sits naturally in the long stretch after the solstice. Our Yule 2026 guide explains how the twelve days count down to it, and the Mabon apple harvest piece covers the other end of the apple's year.
A simple wassail recipe
This makes about ten cups and takes forty minutes, most of it waiting.
Ingredients
- 8 cups fresh apple cider, unfiltered if you can find it
- 1 orange, studded with 10 to 12 whole cloves
- 2 or 3 cinnamon sticks
- 6 whole allspice berries
- 3 to 4 tablespoons honey, to taste
- Optional: 1 cup brandy, or swap 2 cups of the cider for a brown ale
Method
Put the cider, clove-studded orange, cinnamon and allspice in a large pot. Bring it to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat and keep it there for about thirty minutes; do not let it boil hard or the cider turns flat and bitter. Stir in the honey a spoonful at a time until it tastes right. Take it off the heat before adding brandy, so the alcohol does not cook off. Ladle into mugs and float a thin apple slice in each.
Serve it from the stove on a cold night with the table dressed for the season; a dark cloth such as the witchy tablecloths and a few candles from the ritual candle range are enough.
A small orchard blessing, with or without an orchard
Few of us have an orchard. The blessing works on one apple tree in a yard, a potted citrus on a balcony, or the houseplant that has survived three winters in a dark corner.
Warm a little of the wassail and let it cool to room temperature, so it will not scald roots. Take a piece of toast and a cup of the wassail to the tree or plant. Hang or place the toast in its branches or on the soil. Pour a small splash at the base; for a houseplant, a teaspoon is plenty, followed by plain water. Raise your own cup and say something simple: "Waes hael, old tree. Bear well, grow well, live another year." Then make a little noise, a clap or a bell, and drink. Our kitchen witchcraft guide has more on treating cooking as part of the practice, and the tree of life piece covers why trees sit at the centre of so much of it. A tree of life tablecloth under the bowl is a quiet nod to the same idea.
One cloth under the wassail bowl
Frequently Asked Questions About Wassail
What does wassail mean?
It comes from the Old English greeting waes hael, "be well" or "be in good health". It was a toast first, then the name of the spiced drink, the bowl it was served in, and the custom of carrying that bowl from house to house.
When is orchard wassailing held?
On Twelfth Night, 5 or 6 January, or on Old Twelfth Night, 17 January, which reflects the date before England changed calendars in 1752. Different villages keep different nights.
Is wassail alcoholic?
It can be either. Historically it was ale, mead, wine or hard cider. Most modern American recipes use sweet apple cider and leave the brandy or ale optional.
Is wassailing a pagan custom?
Its pagan roots are often suggested but not proven. It is documented from the medieval period in a Christian setting, and it belongs to the same family of midwinter customs as the Yule log and the evergreen.
Raise the cup, wish the house and the trees good health, and feed the thing that feeds you. That is the whole custom, and it has lasted this long because it needs nothing more.
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