Yes, Basic Grey has released their Christmas range at the CHA Summer show in the US and it’s called ‘Wassail’.
Wassailing - (thanks to Franklin County Horticulture for this…)
Many of us have heard the song “Here We Come A Wassailing.” But what does it mean? Wassailing is now the tradition of traveling from house to house singing, eating, drinking, and visiting with friends and relatives. However, wassailing was originally an important horticultural ritual.
Traditionally, the persons wassailing would bring wassail with them on their travels. Recipes for wassail often included cider, ale, and/or wine. This mixture was served in a large bowl garnished with roasted apples with small pieces of toast floating on the top of the liquid. Thus, the expression “to propose a toast.”
The word wassail is derived from both an Anglo-Saxon greeting “Waes hal” and the variation of a Viking greeting, “Ves heill.” These greetings, loosely interpreted, mean, “Be in good health.” Wassailers were invited into the home to share food and fellowship. As time went on, the greeting soon became synonymous with the word wassail.
Another ritual involving wassail was a salute to the apple trees for a good harvest. Wassailers traveled to major orchards and sang to the trees that produced well. Following the singing, loud noises were made to chase evil spirits away. Portions of the wassail and a roasted apple were thrown at the trees, and pieces of the wassail-soaked toast were placed in the forks of the trees. Sometimes, wassail was poured over the roots of the trees. All of these rituals were an offering of thanks to the trees. Trees that had not produced well were not treated to the wassailing.
Typically, this ritual occurred near or around the time of the winter solstice. The care with which the ceremony had been executed was measured by the crop yield the following year. It was important that the trees have a good yield the next year so that there would be more cider to put into the wassail.
