The 11th Day of Yuletide

Wassailing
Gathering Around the Table
Black Eyed Pea Soup for Good Luck
Plus My Mama’s Recipe for Wassail—enough for a crowd!

WASSAILING

Here we come a Wassailing among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wand’ring so fair to be seen,
Love and you come to you, and to you your Wassail, too,
May God bless you and send you a Happy New Year,
My God send you a Happy New Year.
traditional carol sung at the Winter holiday season

Several years ago a group of friends and I began gathering at the Festivals to celebrate. At Yule we gathered to Wassail the trees. We all made ceremonial staves and went out to our small orchard where we did ceremony, sang songs, and ‘wassailed’ the trees. Basically this meant whacking the trees with our decorated staves which were far too small to do any damage.

It was a bit naughty and a bit reverent and a lot of fun.

Etymologically, the roots of the word Wassail mean ‘good health’. And while there is another version of Wassailing, which is basically an excuse to drink Wassail from a large bowl—and my Mom was famous for her Wassail recipe—I love the orchard blessing tradition most.

“Apple tree, apple tree we all come to wassail thee,
Bear this year and next year to bloom and blow,
Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sacks fulls…”

It is wonderful to gather with friends, create something lovely, bundle up and go outside to sing, bang pots, shake rattles, dance, and bounce, and prance, and generally wake the trees spirits, scare away any ‘evil’ spirits and offer a blessing to the fruit trees as they lie sleeping in the darkness.

Gathering Around the Table

There is something about sharing a meal with family and friends that really brings home the Holiday Spirit. There are so many songs about Christmas goose and most families seem to have some sort of traditional meal they serve at a December holiday. Right now I’m going to focus on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day traditions because, well, that’s where we are!

There is a true comfort in the simple act of preparing a meal and eating it in the company of people who you hold dear. The slow conversation. The jokes. The muted rattle of silverware and plate.

A hearty meal of black eyed peas and greens on New Year’s Day is traditional in my world and something I’ve always enjoyed sharing with people I love.

In other places, they do other things:

In Spain it’s traditional to eat 12 grapes, 1 for each month, as the clock strikes midnight.

In Turkey it’s traditional to smash a pomegranate on your doorstep.

In many parts of the World, lentils are served at New Years, in theory because they look like little coins.

But here’s my favorite: Black Eyed Peas.

Black Eyed Peas are traditional in the US South. Carried here hidden in the hair of women kidnapped from West Africa for the slave trade, these bean seeds were planted, grown, harvested, and eaten. They have become a traditional food here and they are eaten on New Year’s Day as a symbol of good luck.

In West Africa they are still considered to be a lucky food and the tradition of those stolen people seemed to carry on, even in the face of so much trauma and evidence that there wasn’t much happening in the way of good luck. Maybe they were even more important because of that. A little luck in the face of such devastating loss and criminal maltreatment must have been something to cling to.

On New Year’s Day, as I eat my lucky black eyed pea soup, I will also remember the bravery of those who brought this food here and honor them in spirit.

Recipe for Black Eyed Pea Soup:

1 bag of dried black eyed peas
1 quart of chicken or veggie stock
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
2 stick of celery, diced
olive oil or coconut oil or bacon grease or lard, whatever you use is fine
salt, pepper, other spices to taste
If you like to have ham or bacon in your soup, you can add a ham hock, or some cooked bacon, or some diced ham that you’ve browned before adding it to the soup. To taste.

Sort the bag of peas and put into a stock pot, add a quart of filtered water, and turn on high. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down so that the liquid is just simmering. Add the stock to the pot and allow all to come back to a slow simmer.

Pour enough oil or grease into a large frying pan that the bottom is coated. Turn heat on medium-high. When oil is heated, add onions to the pan and begin sautéing them, when they begin to turn translucent, add the rest of the veggies to the pan. Cook all until onions are done. Add more oil as needed. Salt and pepper the veg as they sauté.

Pour veggies into stock pot. Season to taste. Simmer until black eyed peas are soft and the veggies are cooked through.

Enjoy! and Good Luck in the coming year.

Recipe

BETTY JEAN’S WASSAIL BOWL

This is my Mom’s recipe. She was absolutely famous for this at her Episcopalian Church, Eastern Shore Chapel, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It’s the first recipe printed in their recipe book, Holy Chow. The recipe is one for a crowd, so please edit down as needed to fit your needs.

12 gallons apple juice
3 packages mulling spice mix
5 oranges, sliced into rounds
28 ounces club soda, well chilled
4 fifths whiskey (or grain alcohol, or vodka, etc. Go with your preference for taste.)
sliced cherries are added in her handwriting and I have no idea if she means Maraschino or fresh

Pour juice into large pots and simmer. Add oranges and spice mix. Simmer 20 minutes. When ready to serve, add whiskey a little at a time to suit your taste. Serve hot. Yields 30-75 servings. (I guess this depends on whether you’re serving drunkards or teetotalers! ha!)