A NEW YEAR CUSTOM
'A custom that took place on New Year's Eve was that in which the Wassail Bowl played chief part. On that night the Wassail Bowl, composed of wine or spiced ale, was carried from door to door, and accompanied by some kind of verse.
The name is derived from ~"Waes hael," which is Anglo-Saxon .for. "Be iii health." Sometimes it was known, as "lamb's wool," and was carried round by a party of young women. Sometimes they received little presents from the houses at which they stopped. An orange, stuck with, cloves, appears to have been a New Year's gift.
This old chanson is typical of the verses which were sung when the Wassail Bowl-was handed round. The brown bowle, The merry- brown bowle, As it goes round-about-a, Fill, . Still, . . : Let the world say what it will, And drink your fill all out-a.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19410104.2.135.9
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 3, 4 January 1941, Page 11
Word Count
147A NEW YEAR CUSTOM Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 3, 4 January 1941, Page 11
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