Gloucester Wassail

A traditional English folk song for wassailing. Though no known print versions of this song predate the 19th century, one source places it at least as far back as the 1790s, and many wassailing traditions are older still.

The word "wassail" has roots in the Old English phrase "wes hál" (roughly, "be well"), originally a greeting. By the 12th century, the phrase (now Middle English "wæs hæil") had gained an additional usage associated with drinking a toast. From there, it morphed into a single word referring to the beverages drunk with such toasts, and later the act of drinking and carousing in general.

In the late 16th century, it came to refer to specific celebrations for New Year's and Twelfth Night, which grew into two categories of celebration called "wassailing". One, as described in the song, involved going door to door with a decorated wassail bowl, offering blessings and goodwill in exchange for food, drink, and a chance to warm up by the fire. The other, particularly popular in cider-producing areas, focused specifically on apple trees — participants would go into orchards and perform various activities intended to bless the trees and ward off evil spirits, such as pouring cider on the trees, placing cider-soaked cakes or toast in the branches, banging on pots and pans, and firing shotguns into the air, all in the hope of ensuring a good apple harvest in the coming year. Modern versions of these celebrations still take place in some areas today.

## Factoids

The door-to-door variety of wassailing is also the origin of the tradition of caroling, which emerged as a specifically Christmas-related activity in the 19th century. Another wassail song, "Here We Come A-Wassailing", even has a later variant titled "Here We Come A-caroling".

There are many, many wassailing songs corresponding to many of the places where the traditions were or are still observed; some of them bear obvious relation to this one, while others seem to be entirely unrelated except by subject matter, but the distinctions are often too blurry to categorize them with any certainty.

## Lyrics

As provided with the YouTube video.

>
> {Chorus}
>
> Wassail! wassail! all over the town
>
> Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown
>
> Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree
>
> With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee
>
>
>
> So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek
>
> Pray God send our master a good piece of beef
>
> And a good piece of beef that we all may see
>
> With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee
>
>
>
> {Chorus}
>
>
>
> And here is to Dobbin and to his right eye
>
> Pray God send our master a good Christmas pie
>
> And a good Christmas pie that we may all see
>
> With our wassailing bowl we'll drink to thee
>
>
>
> {Chorus}
>
>
>
> Come, butler, come fill us a bowl of the best
>
> Then we hope that your soul in heaven may rest
>
> But if you do draw us a bowl of the small
>
> Then down shall go butler, bowl and all
>
>
>
> {Chorus}
>
>
>
> Then here's to the maid in the lily white smock
>
> Who tripped to the door and slipped back the lock
>
> Who tripped to the door and pulled back the pin
>
> For to let these jolly wassailers in
>
>
>
> {Chorus 2x}
>
>
>
>

#### Additional Verse

When Dave visited for the 2023 Christmas livestream, an additional verse was added for him (between Dobbin and the butler):

>
> And here is to Fillpail and to her left ear
>
> Pray God send our master a happy new year
>
> A happy new year as e'er he did see
>
> With the wassailing-bowl we'll drink to thee
>
>
>
>

## Recordings

#### Full Band Streams

* New Album Announcement Stream (22 Nov 2023)
* It Was Christmas Stream Babe (20 Dec 2023)

1. ↑ https://archive.org/details/songsofnativityb00husk/page/150/mode/2up
2. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “wassail, n., Etymology”, September 2023. <https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1160254634>
3. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “wassail, n., sense 3”, September 2023. <https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1090975671>
4. ↑ http://www.gloschristmas.com/wassail/