Surviving Christmas

Wassailing and caroling have little in common... I should state here, that even caroling in the 15th century was only somewhat similar to what it was just a few decades ago.

Early in Christmas history, a caroling group consisted of a leader, who did most of the singing, and a troop of dancers, who not only danced through the songs, but also provided the chorus.

Usually, these carolers were hired to perform at a feast or ball, and stayed in one place to entertain the guests.

Wassailing, on the other hand was only slightly closer to what I remember as caroling when I was a kid in the 70's, and has long been a popular tradition in Christmas history.

A group of us would get together (in my case it was my girl-scout troop), and practice for weeks. We'd sing carols and Christmas songs at each house along a selected route one evening before Christmas.

The last stop was always a nursing home, where we would sing our songs to the people who lived there - and instead of asking for drinks and food, we would hand out small baskets we'd made as gifts for them!

Wassailing, however, was carried out by a group of (usually) costumed singers. Nearly always, these were peasant-class people. Their song always asked for food, drink or money from the hosts whose homes they went to. They would continue on well into the night on Christmas eve.

This custom continued throughout Christmas history, but in the mid-nineteenth century, started to become violent...

With the social and class-system upheaval of the 19th and early 20th century, the wassailers would demand food, drinks and money from the wealthy citizens they targeted.

If they were refused, it became more and more common that threats and violence would meet that refusal.

It became dangerous in cities like New York, and sparked major social and political reform as well as a popular re-structuring of the Christmas holiday in the United States.

Today, wassailing has become more of a drinking party, rather than roaming around town demanding food, drink and money. However, in some instances, due to the desire to link back to days-gone-by, modern wassailing can include caroling before sitting down to a feast of mulled wine and cider, and a few Christmas cakes.

I guess through the blurred lines of Christmas history, caroling has become a children's activity - when it is done at all - and wassailing is now for adults only.

Many Blessings
GrannySue