Days to remember in January 2024 – 3

 

Days to remember in January 2024 – 3

  Wassailing at Maplehurst, West Sussex. Cider is being poured over the roots of the tree.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I always remember 14^th January because it was my mother’s birthday. It also may be St Hilary’s Day, which is a moveable feast and falls on 13^th or 14^th depending on the calendar. This year, 2024, it is celebrated on 13^th January. Hilary was a French bishop who rigorously held to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

 Folk lore holds that St Hilary’s Day is the coldest day of the year, obviously only in the northern hemisphere. Hilary term refers to the spring terms of the English and Irish law courts and the second or middle academic terms of Oxford University and Trinity College, Dublin. Other names for university spring terms include Epiphany term at Durham, Michaelmas at Cambridge and Candlemas at St Andrews.

17^th January is the Old Twelfth Night, when wassailing takes place. Wassailing refers either to house visiting or visits to orchards. Wassail initially meant either hail or farewell and was practised in England before the Norman conquest. By the end of the 16^th century spiced ale was known as wassail and was a special drink for Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night. Revellers would go from house to house singing and offering a drink from the wassail bowl in return for gifts. This still takes place while the orchard wassailers visit apple and pear orchards in cider making areas like Somerset and Herefordshire.

In the orchards people gather to sing wassailing songs to bring good harvests. Cider may be poured over the roots of the trees, usually one ‘King’ tree, as a blessing. The wassail drink is traditionally served like punch in a large bowl. It may contain warmed ale, wine or cider mixed with cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg and other spices. Some recipes add honey and eggs. It is passed from person to person with the cry, ‘Wassail’.