Lewis Jones at 23:15, 19 November 2018

2018-11-19T23:15:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:15, 19 November 2018
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	⁠Drink half and drink empty.<br>		⁠Drink half and drink empty.<br>
	<br>		<br>
	For ~~Other~~ versions, see “ Somersetshire Wassail” (''A Garland of Country Song'', No. 20); ''Sussex Songs'' (No. 3); and ''The Besom Maker'' (p. 9). For a Gloucestershire version, see ''English Folk Carols'' (No. 21).		For other versions, see “ Somersetshire Wassail” (''A Garland of Country Song'', No. 20); ''Sussex Songs'' (No. 3); and ''The Besom Maker'' (p. 9). For a Gloucestershire version, see ''English Folk Carols'' (No. 21).

	The strong tune in the text is in the Dorian mode.		The strong tune in the text is in the Dorian mode.

Lewis Jones: Created page with "No. 92. Wassail Song The old custom of wassail singing still survives in many parts of England, though it is fast dying out. The ceremony is performed on January 5, i.e., the..."

2018-11-19T23:15:06Z

Created page with "No. 92. Wassail Song The old custom of wassail singing still survives in many parts of England, though it is fast dying out. The ceremony is performed on January 5, i.e., the..."

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No. 92. Wassail Song

The old custom of wassail singing still survives in many parts of England, though it is fast dying out. The ceremony is performed on January 5, i.e., the eve of Epiphany. It is of Saxon origin, the word “wassail” (accent on the last syllable) meaning “be of good health,” from A.-S. wes=be, and hāl=whole or hale. The cup “made of the good old ashen tree” takes us back to the period when all common domestic vessels were of wood. In early times there was an ecclesiastical edict against the use of wooden vessels for the Holy Communion.

Sir James Ramsay, in his ''Foundations of England'' (volume ii), quotes an old Saxon “toasting-cry” from Wace, the Anglo-Norman poet (d. 1180). The Chronicler says that the following lines were sung in the English camp on the eve of the battle of Hastings: 
 
⁠Bublie crient é weissel, 
⁠E laticome é drencheheil 
⁠Drinc Hindrewart é Drintome 
⁠Drinc Helf, é drinc tome. 
 
This, according to Sir James Ramsay, may be translated thus: 
 
⁠Rejoice and wassail 
⁠Let it come (pass the bottle) and drink health 
⁠Drink backwards and drink to me 
⁠Drink half and drink empty. 
 
For Other versions, see “ Somersetshire Wassail” (''A Garland of Country Song'', No. 20); ''Sussex Songs'' (No. 3); and ''The Besom Maker'' (p. 9). For a Gloucestershire version, see ''English Folk Carols'' (No. 21).

The strong tune in the text is in the Dorian mode.

Cecil Sharp's Note 92 (1916) - Revision history

Lewis Jones at 23:15, 19 November 2018

Lewis Jones: Created page with "No. 92. Wassail Song The old custom of wassail singing still survives in many parts of England, though it is fast dying out. The ceremony is performed on January 5, i.e., the..."