From the Saxon wes hal meaning “be of good health.” It was customary in England to toast family and friends at midwinter with some sort of alcoholic beverage. Wassail can also refer to just the alcoholic beverage.
Wassailing is an English midwinter custom of going from house to house with a large bowl containing ale and other ingredients as a way to wish friends and neighbors good health in the coming year. This evolved into the modern custom of Christmas caroling.
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Pamela Chen and Samantha Blossom, authors of the new The Mandarin Tree.
As modern Asian American mystics, we love to work with the heavenly creatures, or what you may know as mystical beings in...