Wassail, Wasail!

It is the New Year in a few minutes and as it is a Christmastime (end of Christmas season to be precise) tradition on this blog, I am uploading the Gloucestershire Wassail. I will welcome the new year and do an unofficial wassail with a glass of Griffon rousse.

Wasail, wassail!

Wassail! Wassail all over the town!
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing-bowl, we'll drink to thee!

The Christmas season is about to end. Officially, it would end at Epiphany, but really, who really celebrates after the New Year nowadays? I was wondering how to celebrate the last day, while the spirit of Christmastime is already pretty much over. I have uploaded before the Gloucestershire Wassail, and I thought it suits the New Year as much as Christmas celebration. While I don't think I will drink a proper wassail, which is some specific kind of mulled cider, and may not have even mulled wine tonight, I already drank two pints of ale, and it was indeed a brown ale. In the end, what matters is not the drink, but that you drink to people's health. So as I drink to yours, I invite you to drink to mine listening to this song.

Gloucestershire Wassail

There is not much time left for Christmas carols, I think the closer it gets to New Year the less enjoyable they get. Like many holidays, I often find Christmas more interesting in the build up (as long as it doesn't start in September). But there are many carols that I can appreciate between Christmas and New Year. Last year, I discovered Gloucestershire Wassail on Youtube by total chance. I particularly like the version of Loreena McKennitt on A Midwinter Night's Dream. I think I like it because it is a drinking song. Because of this and because it mentions the new year, I think it ties it nicely between Christmas and, well, New Year.