24th December 2010
Dear One and All,
Its that time again, time to get together, eat drink and be merry. 'WASSAIL'. I will be doing quite a lot of wassailing in the next 48 hours make no mistake. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you again for all your support this year, for the kind gifts and kind words which have been bestowed on me. Thank you also for all your generous donations placed on 'just giving.com', over the four charities; Childline, Barnardos, Shelter and The Salvation Army you have donated over £8000, and in a year when we are all tightening our belts, thats pretty amazing.
I haven't been as attentive as I would like this year, either on line, by letter or in person; but in a zeigeist of information overload, I am enjoying the silence, and as Oscar Wilde once pointed out:
"I am but too conscious of the fact that we are born in an age when only the dull are treated seriously, and I live in terror of not being misunderstood"
So in a brief moment of terror I succomb, to wish everyone a really thoroughly Merry Christmas. 2010 has been a challenge and next 365 days look like another 'mountain' to climb. I know I say it every Dec 24th, but please 'take a little and give a lot', and resolve to do it better next year, you know I don't just mean Christmas.
Thanks to Annette for sharing this message on her wonderful site. Thank you to all the other who work so hard on their site's all over the world. This is for all of you.
Have a wonderful Christmas, holiday or whatever you are celebrating and Love and luck for 2011....yikes!
Richard
PS. I apologise in advance for next year as there may be a slight delay with the return of signed photos and thank you notes; as I may be spending some time on the other side of the planet, possibly wearing a beard.
http://www.richardarmitageonline.com/
Post from 09 Christmas season: Who will you kiss under the mistletoe?
Wassail research..say that 5Xs really rapidly:) Sort of like Bugs Bunny's nemesis Elmer Fudd (who has an adorable lisp) saying "you wascally wabbit."
Anyhoo, holiday schedule change #100 = guests will not be arriving 'til the morrow...wassail research is making me wax poetic;) (We're finally getting to enjoy all the Christmas Eve shows that we've missed every other year, since it's usually our time for wassailing.)
Wikipedia's take on the origins of the word and tradition..
You can blame Sue for awakening this wassail curiosity :) she commented that there was an orchard wassail tradition of which I'd never heard one iota. (need to look up origins of that strange word next;) [Update: Definition of IOTA
1: the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet
2: an infinitesimal amount : jot
Origin: Latin, from Greek iōta, of Semitic origin]
Continued from original remarks: I do believe we should designate Sue as the RA universe's official orchard wassail queen(see below). She did mention a particular fondness for holiday cider - will approach her to learn if she's willing to accept the title:) Believe we know who she'd ask to be her king..don't we?
In a comment below I'd groped around for lyrics from the only Christmas carol I can recall that mentions wassail--drew a few blanks but the first search result came to the rescue...
From Wikipedia: >The practice has its roots in the middle ages as 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
"we are not daily beggars that beg from door to door but we are friendly neighbours whom you have seen before."
The lord of the manor would give food and drink to the peasants in exchange for their blessing and goodwill, i.e...
"Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
a Happy New Year"
... which 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.[3] 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'.[4]
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 trick-or-treat fashion. 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."[4]
The Orchard-Visiting Wassail - In the cider-producing West of England (primarily the counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire) wassailing also refers to drinking (and singing) the health of trees in the hopes that they might better thrive.
An old rhyme goes: “Wassaile the trees, that they may beare / You many a Plum and many a Peare: / For more or lesse fruits they will bring, / As you do give them Wassailing.”
The purpose of wassailing is to awake the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the Autumn.{"England In Particular", Common Ground 2007} The ceremonies of each wassail vary from village to village but they generally all have the same core elements. A wassail King and Queen lead the song and/or a processional tune to be played/sung from one orchard to the next, the wassail Queen will then be lifted up into the boughs of the tree where she will place toast soaked in Wassail from the Clayen Cup as a gift to the tree spirits (and to show the fruits created the previous year)< http://www.wyrdwords.vispa.com/heathenry/wassailing/index.html
Christmas treat 'I Wish You Love' to RA fans by ThePhylly3..
