Wassil Eve near Leeds

Mr Beckwith remembered in the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1784 that near Leeds, when he was a boy, many families asked their relations, friends and neighbours in on the twelfth eve of Christmas for cards and a supper at which mince pies were essential. After supper came the wassail bowl of ale, sugar, nutmeg and roasted apples: each guest spooned out an apple and ate it, then drank the company’s health from the bowl, wishing them a merry Christmas and a happy new year. The drink was called lamb’s wool and the night Wassil Eve, and in that country Christmas was held to last twenty days, some keeping it until Candlemas.