Happy New Year and a Good Apple Howling To You! (Plus an update on the "Shrub" Beverage Project)

Hullabaloo is what has marked the bringing in of the New Year for centuries, even as far back as ancient times. For fur traders and pioneers in the American wilderness, it was a way to drive out the drear of the long winter, with excessive drink, gambling, wresting, and firing guns into the night. Even in genteel colonial societies the occasion was marked with noise.

For many, a common way to welcome the New Year has been with the ringing of bells. Here's an excerpt from "In Memoriam", Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem that celebrates the eagerness of dispensing with the past and moving on to a brighter, newer future:

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow;

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the new.

Church bells chimed the New Year from many a steeple to welcome change or hearken some good news, but in some places, the ringing of the bells meant more. It meant a lot of superstition. For to some, bells might have been used almost as a charm. Sometimes rung to ward off evil, bell-ringing was frequently done at the foot of a dying person's bed, "to drive away evil spirits…ready to seize their prey or at least molest or terrify the soul in its passage". Yikes!

Then there was the New Year's wassail. I love me a good wassail—the beverage anyway—mulled cider, hot and spicy. But the wassail was also part of a bell ringing ceremony. Colonists as well as folk around the world in Colonial times and before thought they could only guarantee a good apple crop for making said wassail if they traipsed out on New Year's Eve to the orchard and partook in a ceremony of hullabaloo to "encourage" the trees to bear a heavy crop the following fall.

The ceremony, often referred to as Wassailing, or better yet, an Apple Howling (see where we're going here?) began with a procession of bell ringers and noise makers making their way to the orchard, carrying a big bowl of wassail. Once there, they would encircle a select apple tree and thrash it with sticks. (You've got to wonder how that "encouraged" the tree to bear. Maybe they meant to coax the tree into producing a bumper crop in much the same way a strict Dickensian schoolhouse master might "encourage" a small boy to learn his letters…)

So, anyhow, they beat the poor tree. While so doing, they would pour the wassail onto the roots to further stimulate it, and recite this lovely little verse several times while so doing:

Stand fast root, bear well top,

Pray God send us a good howling crop;

Every twig, apples big;

Every bough, apples enou;

Hats full, caps full,

Full quarter sacks full.

This might then be accompanied by more bells as well as some gunshots and whatever noise-makers the good orchard folk brought along—be it pots and pans or dustbin lids. If you'd get a kick out of seeing an Apple Howling nowadays, there are Youtube videos and places you can travel to and join in the festive event. (Not sure that one's going on my bucket list…)

I have apple trees too, but I think I'll come up with another plan to encourage production that bypasses a cold New Year's Apple Howling. Nevertheless, please…do pass me the wassail anyway.

~~~~~

Speaking of BEVERAGES, here's an update to my post last month on making SHRUB, the colonial fruit and vinegar refreshment.

After letting the shrub marinate (for lack of a better term) in my fridge for over three weeks, I strained out the berries (doing it a couple of times until the juice ran clear). I then added a couple cups of sugar and cooked it until it was thoroughly dissolved. This I chilled, and then it was ready to try out.

Double Straining

My family sampled it with a topper of sparkling water and a splash of hesitation. Most agreed, it was interesting and rather good. Some liked it thin (only a couple of teaspoons to a glass of sparkling water), and some liked it a little stronger (a couple of tablespoons). I say it was good and refreshing! I will tell you though, you can definitely taste the vinegar. I'd like to do this again with strawberries and be true to the measurements. I used a little too much vinegar to fruit in my ratio. (It should be even.)

So here's to you, fair readers! Happy New Year!

A Toast with One of My Lads

A Wassail Tradition by Cynthia Howerter

More than a thousand years ago in England, the word “wassail” was first used as a greeting. This was the time of the dark ages after the Roman empire collapsed and its army departed from England. Without the Roman army's protection, the island's inhabitants suffered from wars and vicious attacks by Vikings, Germanic tribes, and other enemies. Derived from the Old Norse ves heil and Old English was hál—which meant “be in good health” and “be fortunate,” respectively—the words take on profound meaning in light of the deadly cultural and economic turmoil that embroiled the land.

Eventually, the ancient greeting was hál evolved into a traditional toast as well as a beverage by the same name. At Christmas time, English feudal lords opened their manor house and larder to the serfs who kept their estates in working order. The lord of the manor filled his bowl (that is, a cup or mug) with a mulled beverage made from wine or ale, then toasted the health and fortune of these laborers by wishing them “wassail”—good health and fortune. In exchange, the peasants felt kindly toward their "employer" and were inclined to serve him well throughout the year.

The traditional liquid refreshment known as wassail was originally made from wine. The beverage was “mulled,” that is, heated, sweetened, and flavored with spices such as allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. The less affluent—peasants and later the working class—could not afford to purchase wine, so they substituted inexpensive ale.

Colonists from England brought their tradition of wassail across the Atlantic with them. During the colonial period, wine and ale were scarce in rural areas of the colonies, but the availability of apples from numerous orchards provided cider for the base for the ancient beverage. Colonists of the middling and upper classes in towns such as Williamsburg, Virginia, served wassail in punch bowls with rings of lemons or oranges afloat.

The keeping of traditions is important to me—especially those from colonial times, my favorite historical period. Traditions connect us to those who came before us. They are the substance of smiles and fond remembrances. They provide a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves.

Traditions connect us to those who came before us 

When my children were young, the first snowfall of winter not only heralded in the Yuletide season for my family but inspired the first of many simmering pots of wassail to be made in my kitchen during the cold months. The slanted rays of the sun in the western sky beckoned my lovelies to put their sleds in the garage and come indoors where they discarded their snow-covered boots and ice-crusted mittens by the door before scurrying to the blazing fire in our fireplace. Seated on the brick hearth next to dancing flames and crackling wood, the fingers of my rosy-cheeked offspring warmed as they gripped steaming cups of fragrant hot wassail. And of course, their sweet voices sometimes piped out the beloved wassailing song from earlier times ...

Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green, 

Here we come a-wand'ring so fair to be seen ...

My grown children now have their own homes and families, and the age-old traditions they experienced as they were growing up continue to be an important part of their lives. We can’t imagine celebrating the season of Christmas or experiencing the frostiness of winter days without a pot of wassail steaming on the stove. Perhaps the making, serving, and wishing of wassail will become a tradition in your family, creating memories that are long remembered.

Love and joy come to you, and to you, your wassail, too

Wassail to you, my dear friends,

Cynthia Howerter

The Howerter Family’s Wassail Recipe

½ gallon apple cider

¼ cup fresh lemon juice, seeds removed (about 2 lemons)

1 cup granulated sugar (or less - taste the cider first to determine its sweetness)

5 cinnamon sticks

1½ teaspoons whole allspice

            Pour apple cider into a large saucepan. Squeeze juice from fresh lemons and discard seeds. Add the lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon sticks to cider. Put the whole allspice in a spice ball or infuser and submerge in cider.

            Place pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture starts to boil; reduce temperature and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

            Wassail can be stored in refrigerator in a sealed container once the beverage has cooled to room temperature.

            Yield: about twelve 6-ounce cups of wassail.

Award-winning author Cynthia Howerter grew up playing in Fort Rice, a Revolutionary War fort owned by family members, and lived on land in Pennsylvania once called home by 18th century Oneida Chief Shikellamy. Hunting arrowheads and riding horses at break-neck speed across farm fields while pretending to flee from British-allied Indians provided exciting childhood experiences for Cynthia and set the stage for a life-long love of all things historical. A descendant of a Revolutionary War officer and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), history flows through Cynthia's veins.

Photographs ©2017 Cynthia Howerter

Pamela Griffin's Recipe for Wassail

The colonials brought the tradition of wassail from Merry old England to America (though in various forms, the beverage has been around since the Middle Ages). I learned that Wassail comes from the Middle English phrase wæs hæl - which means "good health" or "be you healthy". I have found that it's not just a delicious hot drink but also a remedy that can literally keep you that way. Small wonder, with the ingredients it contains. :)

My entire family loves it during the fall and winter season, not just at Christmas, and in the spring and summer we drink it at the first signs of a cold. It's perfect for cold and flu weather, to help build up the immune system or stop a cold from spreading. And when that sweet cinnamon and spice aroma filters through the house, a sign that it's ready, everyone gathers around the huge pot of wassail, eager for more than just a taste.

Wassail

1 gallon apple cider

4 cups orange juice

2 small cans pineapple juice (or enough for 12 oz.)

1/2 cup lemon juice (normal strength)

3-4 cinnamon sticks

1 Tbsp. whole cloves

honey to taste

Put all ingredients in huge pot, cover and simmer over low heat until hot, though you might wish to add the honey in later, when the wassail has warmed enough to melt it. Stir on occasion. Strain into mugs, serve and enjoy. (Note, when storing what remains to reheat later, be sure and first strain the cloves out of the main pot and remove the cinnamon sticks to keep the sweet taste and not have it go too stout.)


Thanks Pamela Griffin for this recipe!!!