The Wassail Bowl...

Wassail is a hot, mulled punch often associated with Yuletide, drunk from a 'wassailing bowl'. The earliest versions were warmed mead into which roasted crab apples were dropped and burst to create a drink called 'lambswool' drunk on Lammas day, still known in Shakespeare's time.^[2] Later, the drink evolved to become a mulled cider made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, topped with slices of toast as sops and drunk from a large communal bowl. Modern recipes begin with a base of wine, fruit juice or mulled ale, sometimes with brandy or sherry added. Apples or oranges are often added to the mix, and some recipes also call for beaten eggs to be tempered into the drink. Great bowls turned from wood, pottery or tin often had many handles for shared drinking and highly decorated lids; antique examples can still be found in traditional pubs.Hence the first stanza of the traditional carol the Gloucestershire Wassail dating back to the Middle Ages.

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 unto thee.

At Carhampton, near Minehead, the Apple Orchard Wassailing is held on the old Twelfth Night (17 January) as a ritual to ask the Gods for a good apple harvest. The villagers form a circle around the largest apple tree, hang pieces of toast soaked in cider in the branches for the robins, who represent the 'good spirits' of the tree. A shotgun is fired overhead to scare away evil spirits and the group sings, the following being the last verse,

Old Apple tree, old apple tree;
We've come to wassail thee;
To bear and to bow apples enow;
Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full;
Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs.

Lamb's wool

Lamb's wool or lambswool is a variety of wassail made from ale, baked apples, sugar and spices.^[

Next crowne the bowle full of
With gentle Lambs wooll,

Adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too,
And thus ye must doe

To make the Wassaile a swinger.

Irish antiquarian Charles Vallancey proposed that the name "lambswool" was a corruption of the name of a pagan Irish festival, "Lamas Ubhal", during which a similar drink was had. Alternatively, the name may derive from the drink's similar appearance to the wool of lambs. Ale is occasionally replaced by ginger ale for children, especially around Halloween and New Year.

Culture

This drink would be roughly equivalent to beer or wine in many contemporary Western cultures. People drank it at social gatherings. "Come butler, come fill us a bowl of the best/... please God send our master a good cask of ale..." sung throughout the towns of the Germanic nations, sending good luck to one's master in the new year.

Wassailing

Here's to thee, old apple tree,
That blooms well, bears well.
Hats full, caps full,
Three bushel bags full,
An' all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!

Here’s to thee, old apple-tree,
Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow,
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow! [enough]
Hats-full! Caps-full!
Bushel, bushel sacks-full!
And my pockets full, too! Hurra!^[10]

In the cider-producing counties in the South West of England (primarily Cornwall,  Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire) or South East England (Kent, Sussex, Essex and Suffolk) wassailing refers to a traditional ceremony that involves singing and drinking to the health of trees on Twelfth Night in the hopes that they might better thrive. The purpose of wassailing is to awaken the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the Autumn.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 is then lifted into the boughs of the tree where she places toast soaked in wassail from the clayen cup as a gift to the tree spirits (and to show the fruits created the previous year). In some counties the youngest boy or "Tom Tit" will stand in for the Queen and hang the cider soaked toast in the tree. Then an incantation is usually recited.

A folktale from Somerset reflecting this custom tells of the Apple Tree Man, the spirit of the oldest apple tree in an orchard, and in whom the fertility of the orchard is thought to reside. In the tale a man offers his last mug of mulled cider to the trees in his orchard and is rewarded by the Apple Tree Man who reveals to him the location of buried gold.

The Birch Tree, --- & It's Many Uses...

Birch-the symbol of Russia

The emblem of middle region forests of Russia is white-trunk birch. White-trunk birch became a symbol of spring, light and love to the fatherland. The word “birch” is very ancient and is connected with the verb “to keep, to take care”, since the Slavs considered the birch as the protecting people gift of God. The year began with spring and people celebrated it not with fir, but with the birch.

The birch was necessary planted near the houses, people tried to surround the village by “protecting” belt of birches, as they believed that “birch spirit” can guard against cholera and another diseases. The birch was planted near the gate, there was a bank and people could speak with a tree and ask it to give them might and strength. Birch forest is light and clean and is always full of birds, berries and mushrooms.

It is really hard to imagine the Russian sauna without the birch broom. Phytoncides out of leaves and buds sterilize the air. Especially successfully they cope with pathogens of typhoid fever, tuberculosis and diphtheria.

The birch was widely used in a peasants’ life, and first ways of Slavs’ written language was made on the birch bark and was preserved in the ground till now.

Birch sap is the sap extracted from a birch tree, such as a North American Sweet Birch or a Silver Birch. The sap is often a slightly sweet, thin syrupy-watery liquid. The tree sap contains sugars (namely xylitol), proteins, amino acids, and enzymes.

Birch sap must be collected during a specific time of the year, depending on the species and geography, at the break of winter and spring when the sap moves intensively, typically between the first thaws and the start of bud development. The collected sap can be drunk as a tonic and it is a traditional beverage in Russia.

Birch sap collection is done by tying a bottle to the tree, drilling a hole into its trunk and leading the sap to the bottle by a plastic tube. A small birch (trunk diameter about 15 cm) can produce up to 5 liters of sap per day, a larger tree (diameter 30 cm) up to 15 liters per day. Birch sap has to be collected in early Spring before any green leaves have appeared, as in late Spring it becomes bitter. The collection period is only about a month per year.


«Березовый сок» на Яндекс.Фотках
Birch sap may be consumed both fresh and naturally fermented. It is a very refreshing drink.

Birch sap can also be used as an ingredient in food or drinks, such as birch beer or wintergreen flavored candy. Concentrated birch sap is used to make birch syrup In Russia this tonic is used as a traditional herbal medicine functioning as antiseptic, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-itching treatment.

Fresh birch sap is highly perishable; even if refrigerated, it is stable for only up to 2-5 days. Shelf life can be prolonged by freezing or pasteurization. However pasteurization destroys some ingredients and can alter the taste of the product. Frozen birch sap is fairly stable.

Also, they stored birch brooms, covered roofs with the birch bark, made boats, clothes, shoes out of this material; they braided boxes, punnets, in which honey, milk, berries and other products could be kept for a long time. Moreover the birch bark was added to the dough.

Krasheninnikov S. P. describes the scenes of Kamchadals’ life (1948).
The bark, catkins and new branches was a source of vitamins. Kamchadals fine minced unripe bark and eat it with dry caviar, make sour bark with birch juice.

The healing properties of the birch are known from time immemorial. There are many pieces of advice in different herbals of the XVI – XVII centuries.

This tree gives everything to people for their health: juice, catkins, leaves, bark, new branches, tender thin roots, birch coal, tar. Also it has bioenergetic therapeutic effect. A man fells himself sprightly, calm and full of strengths of life in the birch forest.

Since olden days the birch bark considered as very important medicinal raw material, with the help of which people treated the diseases of joints, urinary and nervous systems. The Slavs sprinkled the wounds with the ground birch bark for its fast healing.

Yule & It's Traditions, --- From "Celtic Connections"...

The Winter Solstice - Yule Lore

The date of this sabbat varies from December 20 to December 23 depending on the year in the Gregorian calendar.  The winter solstice is celebrated at this time in the northern hemisphere but it is now time to celebrate the summer solstice (Litha) in the southern hemisphere due to the seasonal differences.

Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, the sun's "rebirth" was celebrated with much joy. On this night, our ancestors celebrated the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth. From this day forward, the days would become longer.

Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.  Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun.  The boughs were symbolic of immortality (evergreens were sacred to the Celts because they did not "die" thereby representing the eternal aspect of the Divine). The wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes, in hopes Nature Sprites would come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to visit tthe residents.Mistletoe was also hung as decoration.  It represented the seed of the Divine, and at Midwinter, the Druids would travel deep into the forest to harvest it.

The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the Solstice festival. In accordance to tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift... it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze by a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.

A different type of Yule log, and perhaps one more suitable for modern practitioners would be the type that is used as a base to hold three candles. Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.

Many customs created around Yule are identified with Christmas today.  If you decorate your home with a Yule tree, holly or candles, you are following some of these old traditions.   The Yule log, (usually made from a piece of wood saved from the previous year) is burned in the fire to symbolize the Newborn Sun/Son.

Deities of Yule:  All Newborn Gods, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses, and Triple Goddesses. The best known would be the Dagda, and Brighid, the daughter of the Dagda. Brighid taught the smiths the arts of fire tending and the secrets of metal work. Brighid's flame, like the flame of the new light, pierces the darkness of the spirit and mind, while the Dagda's cauldron assures that Nature will always provide for all the children.

Symbolism of Yule:
Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice, Introspect, Planning for the Future.

Symbols of Yule:
Yule log, or small Yule log with 3 candles, evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, christmas cactus.

Herbs of Yule:
Bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar.

Foods of Yule:
Cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider, wassail, or lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples).

Incense of Yule:
Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon.

Colors of Yule:
Red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange.

Stones of Yule:
Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds.

Activities of Yule:
Caroling, wassailing the trees, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe, honoring Kriss Kringle the Germanic Pagan God of Yule

Spellworkings of Yule:
Peace, harmony, love, and increased happiness.

Deities of Yule:
Goddesses-Brighid, Isis, Demeter, Gaea, Diana, The Great Mother. Gods-Apollo, Ra, Odin, Lugh, The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man, The Divine Child, Mabon. 

A Wonderful Nordic Yule Blessing...

Homemade Stovetop Christmas Potpourri...

...

This smells luscious!!!...  I make it in a crockpot.  :D :D :D  Ho-ho-HO!!!

What Is Bay Rum???... How Is It Made???...

It is a distillate that was originally made in Saint Thomas "and probably other West Indian islands" from rum and the leaves and/or berries of the West Indian bay tree, Pimenta racemosa.

John Maisch identified the leaf in the herbarium at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, collected in St Croix, "by the late Dr, Griffith", which was identified as Myrcia acris, now transferred to the genus Pimenta. Maisch added that it was "very probable that various species are made use of for the same purpose." Other ingredients may be citrus and spice oils, the most common being lime oil, oil of cloves. A drop of oil of cloves is added to two parts bay oil and one part pimento oil in one of two recipes for bay rum; the aromatics are steeped in alcohol and as a last step an equal part of "good rum" is added, and cinnamon.

Popularity

This Rexall bay rum is from the Prohibition era in the United States.

It was first made fashionable in New York and other American cities before it was available in Europe. This Rexall bay rum example (pictured) from the Prohibition era in the United States was labeled "for external use only", but with 58% grain alcohol it was often used as a legal, if somewhat toxic, source of beverage alcohol.^[7]

Products

Proprietary bay rum lotions are produced by labs in several West Indian countries, as well as American and European fragrance companies. The original bay rum from St. Thomas by A. H. Riise continues to be produced locally in the US Virgin Islands by the West Indies Bay Company.

The bay laurel, the "bay leaves" in common culinary use, are from a completely unrelated species, Laurus nobilis, and not the West Indian bay tree. Bay laurel can be used to produce a similar, although not identical, product.