The tradition of
wassailing (
alt sp wasselling) falls into two distinct categories: The house-visiting wassail and the orchard-visiting wassail. The house-visiting wassail is the practice of people going door-to-door, singing and offering a drink from the
wassail bowl in exchange for gifts. This practice still exists, but has largely been displaced by
caroling. The orchard-visiting wassail refers to the ancient custom of visiting
orchards in
cider-producing regions of
England, reciting
incantations and singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year.