Wassail Party

"Waes hael," ("Good Health!" or "Be Ye Healthy") is how English revelers many years ago greeted friends and neighbors as they held up a mug of spiced cider during the winter holidays.

Eventually, the expression came to mean the drink as well as the greeting. Later, the toast that was traditionally floated atop the wassail drink became our "toast." When you hold up your glass and announce, "I'll toast to that," you are acknowledging this very old ritual of floating a bit of toast in a mug of spiced cider.

Join the members and staff of Ocracoke Preservation Society this afternoon from 5 - 7  for the island's traditional Wassail Party and lighting of the OPS Christmas Tree.

Good Health to You All!

Wassail, first started as a greeting or as a toast. Waes hael, revelers might say holding up a mug of spiced cider. Eventually, as things go, wassail referred less often to the greeting and more often to the drink. Similarly, the toast that was traditionally floated atop the wassail eventually became our toast; that is, when you hold up your glass and announce, “Let’s have a toast,” or ”I’ll toast to that,” you’re paying homage to this very old ritual of floating a bit of toast in a spiced ...

Read More at nourishedkitchen.com/traditional-wassail-recipe/ © Nourished Kitchen

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of the day Charles Lindbergh landed on Ocracoke. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news112112.htm.