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The tradition of wassailing (''alt sp'' wasselling)〔Sussex Entymology Doreathea Hurst, History and Antiquities of Horsham,Farncombe & Co, 1889〕 falls into two distinct categories: The house-visiting wassail and the orchard-visiting wassail. The house-visiting wassail, caroling by another name, is the practice of people going door-to-door singing Christmas carols. The orchard-visiting wassail refers to the ancient custom of visiting orchards in cider-producing regions of England, reciting incantations and singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year. == Origins of wassailing and Yulesinging == How far the tradition of wassailing dates back is unknown, but it has connections with Anglo-Saxon traditions; the word ''wassail'' comes from the Anglo-Saxon toast ''Wæs þu hæl'', meaning "be thou hale"—i.e., "be in good health". Thus wassailing likely predates the Norman conquest in 1066. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' "waes hael" is the Middle English (and hence post-Norman) spelling parallel to OE "wes hal".〔http://www.oed.com/ ''Oxford English Dictionary''〕 ''The American Heritage Dictionary'', fourth edition, gives Old Norse "ves heill" as the source of Middle English "waeshaeil".〔http://www.bartleby.com/61/ ''American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', fourth edition〕 The correct response to the toast is ''Drinc hæl''.〔http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/wassailing.htm〕 In recent times, the toast has come to be synonymous with Christmas, but since Christianity gradually replaced the indigenous Anglo-Saxon religion around the 7th and 8th centuries, there is no evidence that the traditional ceremony of wassailing is Christian in origin. Traditionally, the wassail is celebrated on Twelfth Night (mostly regarded as January 6, but more properly the evening of January 5). However most people insist on wassailing on "Old Twelvey Night" (January 17) as that would have been the correct date before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. In the middle ages, the wassail was a reciprocal exchange between the feudal lords and their peasants as a form of recipient-initiated charitable giving, to be distinguished from begging. This point is made in the song "Here We Come A-Wassailing", when the wassailers inform the lord of the house that The lord of the manor would give food and drink to the peasants in exchange for their blessing and goodwill, i.e. This would be given in the form of the song being sung. Wassailing is the background practice against which an English carol such as "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" dating back to sixteenth century England, can be made sense of.〔(We Wish You a Merry Christmas Lyrics )〕 The carol lies in the English tradition where wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve such as 'figgy puddings'.〔(English Christmas Carols - Christmas Songs of England )〕 Although wassailing is often described in innocuous and sometimes nostalgic terms, the practice in England has not always been considered so innocent. Wassailing was associated with rowdy bands of young men who would enter the homes of wealthy neighbours and demand free food and drink (in a manner similar to the modern children's Halloween practice of trick-or-treating). If the householder refused, he was usually cursed, and occasionally his house was vandalized. The example of the exchange is seen in their demand for "figgy pudding" and "good cheer", i.e., the wassail beverage, without which the wassailers in the song will not leave; "We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wassailing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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